Somerspiel 2026
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An action shot of a man delivering a rock during a curling match. Two sweepers are ahead of him, keeping pace with the stone. In the background are two other curlers on the ice.
Our club's one-day summer bonspiel was on Saturday, and I volunteered to photograph the event. I did some shooting at last year's spiel, but got roped into playing due to a sudden need for a substitute. This year was just camera work.
Arrived at the rink at 7:30 am, first draw just after 8:00, last game finished up at about 10:30 at night. Spent most of the day doing squats as I got low to take photos. Got up early on Sunday and managed to do all the editing and make it to league. It was a lot.
This year's final product was much better than last year, I think. I came in with a better plan and shot list, compensated for the ice throwing off the light meter, and made sure every participant had an image they could see themselves in. I even brought all my lighting gear to take team portraits (these I was less happy with, but I can do better next year!).
Anyway, if you like curling, here's a lot of it - https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCWHEt
Arrived at the rink at 7:30 am, first draw just after 8:00, last game finished up at about 10:30 at night. Spent most of the day doing squats as I got low to take photos. Got up early on Sunday and managed to do all the editing and make it to league. It was a lot.
This year's final product was much better than last year, I think. I came in with a better plan and shot list, compensated for the ice throwing off the light meter, and made sure every participant had an image they could see themselves in. I even brought all my lighting gear to take team portraits (these I was less happy with, but I can do better next year!).
Anyway, if you like curling, here's a lot of it - https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjCWHEt
Costumes were people’s own choice. We did not have a dress code; some spiels do encourage fancy dress if they are themed (many “fun” spiels are).
The delivery supports are called stabilizers - it’s basically impossibly hard to deliver a rock without holding on to something. Most people eventually transition to using their broom (there are benefits to this) but some people never stop using the stabilizer and that’s fine. The couple of people standing and pushing the rock are using “delivery sticks” - all within regulation, the sport does a pretty good job of inclusivity there.
This spiel had 16 teams, two pools of eight. Tournaments are all different and vary based on facility capacity and time available, but this number is pretty normal.