Dark Fantasy - Freedom means having the choice

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Everybody has the right to make a wise and educated choice for themselves.
And I accept their choices as long as their choices
    * do not endanger/hurt, the Planet, the animals, my few loved ones or myself,
    * do not limit or inhibit my right and ability to make my own free choices.  
    * And they accept the consequences of their choices.

Freedom means having the choice to be free.. or not.

Freedom means having the choice

More from this series on Flickr

Populaire posts van deze blog

Event - Pride Parade 2026

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Love the person you fall in love with.. and be happy if that person loves you back.  Be the person you feel you are.. and live your life in peace and in harmony with the world. Is the situation good if you have to copy the main body of text from last years' events? If a situation is good, it's a good sign. If a situation is dire or even sketchy.. then.. Never forget that a Pride is actually a protest march to make you remember that there are compatriots of yours struggling to have the same rights & possibilities as you just because they refuse to hide their true feelings & their true self in the bottom drawer of a dark closet like so many did before them in order to comply with a general opinion that was imposed on people by several dogmatic, patriarchal religions and authoritarian politicians. ( and their following ) A Pride is about being persecuted for doing no wrong to anyone else. About making choices that matter to yourself and no-one else should feel ...
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Sony tech - Using A-mount lenses on E-mount cameras

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This article is about using (vintage) Minolta/Sigma/Sony/Tamron/.. A-mount lenses on contemporary Sony E-mount cameras. Since the Sony LA-EA5 adapter has been released I have been answering dozens of the same questions about compatibility issues from both retailers and end-users. Some questions & personal experiences with the different adapters were special, so I have tested some combinations and made a small list of my findings. Yes, at first -back in 2021- I wanted to make this into a Youtube video.. alas I don't like looking at myself so I stopped editing it. And then in 2023 I glued some of those old clips together into: https://youtu.be/-VLe6eBQpME 1. Sample images are in this Flickr folder ( always making more sample images) 2. Gear Used : 2.1. Adapters : LA-EA3, LA-EA4, LA-EA5 2.2. E-mount cameras cat1: A1, A7SIII, A7IV, A7RV, FX30, ZV-E1 2.3. E-mount cameras cat2: A9II, A7III, A7RIV, A7C, A6600, A6400, ZV-E10 ( also goes for A7RIII, A9, A6100 ) 2.4. E-...
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Les Festivités annuelles du Fort de Lantin (2026)

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How many time did I want to visit Les Festivités annuelles du Fort de Lantin and the Boekenmarkt Tongeren ? Probably every year since just after Covid.. but the wonderful celebration of Castlefest always got in between. But this year, things were different. Almost no events on my Summer calendar due to the focus on opening House of the Red Merlin , a specialty store for TTRPGs, wargames, boardgames, CCG's and some curated novels and both on the Boekenmarkt and in fort de Lantin I was certain to discover some fresh, new, local talent to showcase on the store-shelves.. which I did: Matt Gauthy & Tales by Ruby . Les Festivités annuelles du Fort de Lantin are a gathering of WWII reenactors, including their Willys, trucks and tanks, with concerts, a creators' market, a military market, parties in 1940ties dresses, visits into the bowels of the old military fort, animal demonstrations, and typical for any self-respecting Walloon costuming event: plenty of drink stalls a...
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Event - Geek Village Open Air (2026)

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Morgen, tijdens de laatste tropische dag van de 5e Limburgse hittegolf deze zomer, opent Geek Village Open Air in kasteel Hex of Heks.. kies zelf maar welke schrijfwijze je leuker vindt. Met de 360° spinner zijn we in open lucht aanwezig, maar niet continue gezien de hitte en omdat we vanop een accu draaien. Normaliter staan we tussen 16-18u op het binnenplein van het kasteel en misschien doorheen de dagen heel kort even op nog enkele verborgen plekjes. UPDATE: A angezien er enkele internet hiccups waren tijdens de tests, zullen de unedited 360-clips NIET via de cloud te downloaden zijn. Vul hier jouw personage & e-mail in zodat ik vanavond de clip(s) via Swisstransfer doorstuur. Check zeker jouw SPAMBOX indien je niets ziet verschijnen. Het kasteel en de tuinen zijn alvast prachtig en Geek Village heeft na de vorige edities  wat te bewijzen, maar ze zitten vol goeie moed en inzet, dus afwachten maar. Het ziet er alvast opnieuw veelbelovend uit en voor 1x zie...
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Event - Year of the Fire horse (2026)

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Happy Newyear and congratulations to all those born in the Year of the Horse.. even more so because you also bring luck to us Dogs. This Chinese Newyear started on February 17th and since the festivities are ongoing till March 3rd; this weekend the celebration came to the peaceful town of Tongeren. It should have been decently announced by the city, because now most people stumbled upon it by accident or due to being linked to Naahm Kuen , the local Kung Fu / Tai Chi club. A celebration like this deserves more! Mostly because it was a colourful feast for all ages and a very well executed Lion dance by Yip's Lion Dance Team . Let us hope it will return. ▷ All photos can always be found on/downloaded from my Flickr and here in this Album ! ▷ A " How to download stills from Flickr " tutorial was posted here . ▷ Some highlights might go to Instagram , Threads or Bluesky . ▷ A video might go to Clapper & to Tiktok ▷ Buy Red Cathedral a whisky on Ko-Fi ▷ Upda...
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Event - Geeks & Freaks (2026)

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Okay-okay . It might be a last minute announcement, but #theRed360 will be present at Geeks & Freaks II in Maastricht (31st of January + 1st of Februay) And YES, a spin on #theRED360 of Deep Red Noise vzw will be FREE/GRATIS/GRATUIT  thanks to the fair organizers. So come visit our tiny corner of the MECC in Maastricht, and if the booth has enough room, I - Red Cathedral - might even make some cosplay portraits again. If you can & want to donate 1€ for your 360°-spin, that money will be used to help local stray cats. Last edition's donations helped with food, a castration, treating a hurt paw and finding a kitten a safe home.. and bonus: one stray entered my bedroom on a tuesday and simply decided to become a house cat. The following day was a Wednesday so I named him:  W..W.. Whisky ! ( Nobody should name a cat after an Addams-family member.. ) Since this is a placeholder for the event, give me a few days after the event to gather my thoughts about this edit...
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Event - Carnavalstoet Tongeren (2026)

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Carnaval in Tongeren valt precies altijd samen met dat in Aalst , het grootste carnavalsfeest van het land, en beide vallen ( de afgelopen jaren ) erg vroeg in het carnavalsseizoen.. zodoende dan kan het al eens gebeuren dat er februarisneeuw valt Voor mij was dit echter de 1e sneeuweditie . Sneeuweditie is misschien een groot woord, de echte sneeuwval begon pas tegen dat de laatste paar praalwagens mijn plekje hadden bereikt, maar voor wie ( vee l) verder op het parkoers stond, zal een een groot deel van de stoet tussen de witte vlokken zijn verlopen. In Nederlands Limburg werden stoeten ingekort, stortten feesttenten in en reden praalwagens zich vast in de sneeuw, maar zo'n vaart liep het hier niet.  Al zijn koude en kans op een gevaarlijk glad, ondergesneeuwd wegdek niet de beste vrienden van lang blijven hangen en flink doorzakken . Dat kan de na-feestvreugde wat temperen, maar de stoet was mooi, de mensen waren vrolijk, de wind was ijskoud, en de drank had geen extra k...
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Sony tech - Using APS-C mode on Full Frame cameras

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 " Why? " You will probably ask while shaking your head. " Why would you do such a thing? " 1. WHAT? Let us start with the " What? " In Sony full frame mirrorless cameras you can always switch between using the camera full frame or in APS-C-mode. This changes your field of view into a " zoomed feel ". What really happens is that in this APS-C mode the processor uses only a part of the sensor. This part is the same size as an APS-C sensor as found in the A6000-series. For photo you always sacrifice megapixels in this "cropped" mode. For video this APS-C mode is called Super 35 mode and has several advantages. But this article is mostly about photography. In video you might want to read this article and consider that for example the full frame A7IV automatically snaps into Super35-mode when you switch it to 4k 50p/60p. In that latter case.. why not put your trust in a lighter, wider ( and often cheaper ) APS-C lens? Subtitles ar...
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Collab - The AI dilemma ( Animating the Imperial Guard)

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Last Thursday the tiny dirt road I needed to take was blocked by a concrete barricade. I cursed ( several times ) and then I thought: " That's actually a cool barricade for a Warhammer 40k shoot. " So I got out of the car, took a picture and had an even worse idea. It took 2 old urbex pictures from back in 2016 and the new concrete slab cellphone photo plus some Photoshop compositing magic to let Firefly AI finalize this composition into the kind of Space Hulk tunnel I wanted. Then I combined 2 stills from @Kyden_cosplay 's props + Cadian commissar cosplay ( made during @GeekVillagebelgium + @GeeksandFreaksnl ) and noticed I had not photographed his legs, so I added the lower part from a macrophoto of a commissar-miniature I had shot during Trolls-et-Légendes ( Sorry, don't know who painted it ). The magic of Photoshop, Luminar Neo and Firefly got me the character and heroic pose I wanted. Then I had Photoshop combine, relight & harmonize both comp...
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Event - Stadsmuzikantenfestival 2026

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Mensen uit Tongeren klagen graag , lees ik vaak op Facebook. Dan kan je ofwel kijken waarom de mensen klagen ( verkeer, asociale politiek, levensduurte, extreme weersomstandigheden, intermenselijk gedrag, de wereldsituatie, overbevolking, de voetbalresultaten, vervuiling, winkelleegstand, .. ), of je kan kijken naar wat hen verbindt en hen met de glimlach samenbrengt. MOMENT festival brengt de mensen samen en één van de toppers is het Stadsmuzikantenfestival. Ieder jaar opnieuw  verzamelen ze een verrassende selectie singer-songwriters bestaande uit jonge talenten op het randje van de grote doorbraak en gevestigde namen van wie iedereen wel een nummer kent. Verschillende hoekjes en binnentuinen van het oude begijnhof in Tongeren zijn het decor en alle bands spelen meerdere korte sets in pure showcase stijl. Mensen zwerven van de ene ontdekking naar de andere en zetten zich onder een boom of in het gras om relaxed te genieten van gratis optredens. Zeker tijdens deze lange hitteg...
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