Catching the Rides: Surfing Photography is His Hobby, and to His Subjects He’s a Swell Guy
Cean Bloss
Cean Bloss is the picture of altruism.
That’s the sentiment of perhaps 50 Avalon surfers, who relish the efforts of this kind stranger, a visiting digital click-master from central Pennsylvania.
Bloss, who has a second home in Dennisville, has spent many summer weekends with them over the past 10 years. He photographs their adventure rides and brings the best images back alive. Hundreds of them, pared from a list of thousands.
The recipients love one added virtue: He won’t take a nickel.
“That’s the crux of this for me,” says Avalon surfer Bill Wagner, who, on behalf of the group, publicly acknowledges the individual who came out of nowhere with professional equipment to take pictures of them. Bloss and many members of the group have become friends.
“I’ll never forget how this started,” Wagner says of meeting Bloss. “You can’t miss this guy; he looks like the actor Sam Elliott. He just came up to me and says, ‘Hey, I have some good shots of you surfing.’ He pulls them out of a binder. He takes out a couple 8½-by-11s of me and I think they look great.
“There are maybe 50 people he has done that for. People love what he shows them. And what happens when you go to offer him money? He won’t take it. He puts his hands in the air. All he wants you to do to is hang it somewhere, put it in a frame, and appreciate it.”
For surfers, the picture is psychic gold. An image enables reminiscing and separates a true story from a fish story when describing a wave one conquered.
It would have been nice if Bloss had done this once. But he has done it countless times.
“Cean and his wife Carol come to the beaches of Avalon and Stone Harbor all summer long from central Pennsylvania and follow the surfers to the best spots – 10th Street, 30th Street, 111th or wherever the break occurs with his camera – and will shoot literally hundreds of shots to come up with several great ones,” Wagner says.
“He is there for the local competitions at the Nuns’ Beach or Fins For Friends and others along with any tributes [paddle outs]. It does not seem to matter whether you are one of the local greats, a weekend warrior, a kid or an old-timer, Cean shoots them all and often returns the following week with binders of large pictures sorted by individual, to give you if he sees you back on the beach.”
The process entails hours at the beach, for which Bloss simply shows up, followed by more hours paring about 1,000 images into a select few. He analyzes them on a computer, prints out the best and offers them to surfers, often the following weekend.
Bloss is not a professional photographer. But try to tell that to those who see his striking ocean images. He captures a surfer atop a big wave, controlling it. Or an individual situated in the bottom of a large wave.
Bloss reveals the colors, dynamics and facial expressions. He captures the items that serve like props, including surfboards, wet suits and body language. Images convey dimension and perspective. Ultimately, Bloss depicts the struggle between surfers and the big boss, the water.
It’s a priceless gift to a surfer.
Bloss, whose Pennsylvania residence is in Hummelstown, between Harrisburg and Hershey, spent 36 years with the Sherwin-Williams paint company. He retired about a dozen years ago, and retained the love for colors and vivid imagery. He transformed them into photography, making images tell stories.
What motivated him to befriend strangers?
“Carol and I have surfed for a long time,” Bloss says, “but after about 30 years I only had a handful of pictures of me doing what I love to do. I asked other surfers if they had pictures and they did not. That’s a shame, they don’t have pictures of them doing something they like.
“So, when we got to Dennisville and then the beach, I didn’t want to just sit, so I started taking pictures of things I enjoy.”
Which, in this case, was fellow surfers.
At first, he shot them in the age of film. Film was taken to a Walmart and developed. The best ones would gain an enlargement.
And then came digital. Bloss, who also takes images of birds in Florida during the winter, invested in new technology.
Between the camera and telephoto lenses, Bloss has about $7,000 of equipment with him during the Avalon shoots. He walks knee-deep into the ocean and catches surfers on their ride in.
The camera can deliver up to 10 frames a second. Bloss can quickly record 10 to 15 shots on one wave. That’s good, because he doesn’t have time to line up the individuals. He knows them but can’t identify them easily. Some use different boards every couple of days. Some change the color of their wet suits.
“You would have no idea how many people surf with their tongue hanging out,” he says. “Some are smiling, some are concentrating, some are just having fun.
“I sit and look at these all year long,” he adds. “There is nothing better on Christmas Eve or some winter night when it is snowing and freezing cold than looking at surfing pictures.”
It takes a fellow surfer to share that joy. Wagner says a typical wave ride is preceded by perhaps 20 minutes of wading through the ocean with the surfboard. That establishes positioning about 75 yards from shore. Then comes the wait for the wave and finally, perhaps a 45-second journey.
It’s a Disney ride on water. Long setup time, short thrill, over and over. Surfers do heavy lifting for their fun.
“One reason the surfers love Cean is that he’s doing something they can’t for themselves,” Carol says. “You can’t take pictures of yourself while you are surfing.”
Bloss has been to homes where his work is up and likes encouraging young people in Avalon surf schools.
He retains an old-school love of this craft, like a painter who refuses to mass produce.
Somebody once asked Cean to email the images to him. Not possible for two reasons. One is that Bloss, who invested thousands of dollars in cutting-edge technology, has a flip phone. Two, it defeats the purpose.
“The joy of this for me is seeing your reaction if I give you a picture,” he says. “I want you to put a frame to it. I would like you to hang it in your house, where people can appreciate it. All I want you to do is love the picture of yourself doing what you love.
“If you look at this through an email, I won’t see your reaction.”
No, he won’t. That’s why Bloss goes extra miles in this pursuit.
The camera enables the sharpness, but behind that lens is the soul of an artist. That’s why these images work. That’s why these surfers are happy Bloss selected them.
And that’s why they want to thank him.
