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Lund is a special area in southern British Columbia’s Sunshine Coast.  The region extends a few hundred kilometres along the Straight of Georgia, from Howe Sound to Desolation Sound.

British Columbia is made up of four physical regions: a mountain system along its west coast that includes the Coast Mountain Range and the Insular Mountains that form Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii (formerly the Queen Charlotte Islands); a mountain system to the east that includes the Rocky and Columbia Mountain Ranges; the rolling grasslands and forests of the Interior and Stikine Plateaux; and a segment of the continent’s Great Interior Plains referred to as Peace River country, which lies in its north-eastern corner. [hellobc.ca]

Within the incredible deep sea inlets, coastal bays, and interconnected lakes, the First Nations peoples navigated their canoes along the many salt and fresh waterways.  Prohibition-era rum smugglers hid out in secret coves and 19th century Union Steamships ferried passengers, drygoods, as well as, royal mail up and down the Coast.

This is Anji’s playground.  When she is not in the Salish Sea diving she is photographing the world around her.  Her images of the coast appear on hellobc.com and can be viewed on Instagram, Facebook and Zoom Magazine.

Yelapa is a unique, small Mexican village of about 1,500 native residents, of which 300 are super relaxed semi-resident Gringos.

A little more than a decade ago, the village operated without electricity, it now arrives by wire or by solar cell.  The evenings are quiet once again without the churning generators.  This car-free village on the Bahía de Banderas, is made for walking, and you require a genuine affection for the numerous and revered stray dogs.  The heavy lifting is accommodated by the many burros, without resistance.

In the 60’s, Yelapa was discovered by the those alternative types from the film and music industries and other gringos found it to their liking and moved in. In those days there were few brick or cement houses only palapas with palm frond roofs and bamboo walls for privacy.  Los Naranjos, a jungle retreat, sports this type of accommodations.  The place is just magical.  Located on a sprawling and well appointed orange grove, the water source is siphoned from their own private waterfall.

Endless diversions lead you off the main walking path. A hike to Sky Temple is as meditative as it is challenging, with strategically places alters, presenting the world’s yogic luminaries. The cross town road gracefully meanders to Verana, a hotel perched on the side of a hill.  Along the way there are art installations and mysterious paths that lead to the water’s edge.

A slice of lemon pie may be had by the local temptress known as the pie lady.  The pace of Yelapa flows gently or not at all, the latter usually end up at la playa, with eyes closed, absorbing the brilliant sun.

FUJI announced that it was time for their NEOPAN 400 professional to drop into analogue history.  In July 2013, Gabriel Da Costa, product manager for professional film, stated that “Due to the prominence that digital has in today’s society combined with a decline in global demand of traditional films, Fujifilm has had to make a difficult decision to withdraw a number of films from its range.”

I uncovered a few unprocessed roles of Fuji Neopan 400 from the early ’90s, oddly around the time it was gaining momentum in the market.   With a process before date of 1992, I was very skeptical that anything would appear. It was described as an interesting, new exciting film with finer grain. It was often noted as being too muddy in it’s gray tones, especially the lighter tonal scale.  To my surprise half a dozen frames of the film were rewound into its’ cassette.  Producing a curious multiple exposure, with a mystery dude smack in the middle of the blueberry patch, the burning sun and my vintage ’80s sedan.

In my naive understanding of what the NEOPAN 400 was not suited for, I made my way to strawberry patch in the thick January morning fog.  Other ‘not suitable for situations’ include snowy landscapes, clouds without much separation between blue sky due to the lack of brilliancy in the highlights, anything that that can appear grey on grey.  NEOPAN 400 was develop to rivaled Kodaks’ Tri-X 400 but with finer grain.

Often called a good push processing film, a technique of increasing the development time of a film to increase its’ effective speed. Push processing compensates for underexposed film by over developing it at the processing stage.

Commonly used as a deliberate attempt to salvage usable images when working in poor lighting conditions, but the method can be used when a film has been underexposed accidentally. Push when there are low light conditions to help enhance contrast, colour saturation and increase granularity.   Perhaps a few rolls of fresh stock of this analog medium is in order to fully realize the push potential.