In Grand Forks from Apr 5-13th is the Men's World Curling Championship. This has caused quite a stir in the local curling community, and my good friend, Claudette, went with me today to the local GF Curling Club to get some photos of the non-professional curlers, at what is called the "Transoceanic Event."
These (above) are the 40 lb rocks or "stones."
To get the rocks to move on the ice, the players sweep in front of the rocks with brooms. I'm not kidding! It makes the stones move! This is serious stuff!
Here's Wikipedia's explanation of this: Curling is a team sport with similarities to bowls and bocce, played on a rectangular sheet of carefully prepared ice by two teams of four players each. Teams take turns sliding heavy, polished granite stones down the ice towards the target (which is called the house). Two sweepers with brooms accompany each rock and use timing equipment and their best judgment along with direction from their other teammates to help direct the stones to their resting place. The complex nature of stone placement and shot selection has led some to refer to curling as "chess on ice"."Chess on ice;" doesn't that have a nice sound to it?
Tomorrow, I'll post a few photos from the actual Men's World Curling Championship.
20 comments:
wow how fuN!
tara
These are great shots. I don't know if I'd ever even really heard of curling until the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake. Here in Utah, we were on Olympic overload on the local news, so I learned about it then. It's really pretty interesting to watch, I think.
i've never seen that before. what an interesting sport! you got some great shots here--your lighting and colors are very nice.
How interesting! I've never heard of it, but it looks very cool!
Great shots! I didn't even know curling existed until I think it was the Olympics in SLC. My dh and I watched it one night and even though it seems completely random and odd, it is pretty fun!
Cool shots!
Wow - I always wondered what curling was - now I know. Thanks
Cool, shots. That looks fun.
Wow...that looks like so much fun. I love the actions shots you caught. Really out of this world color too.
What great action shots!! I've seen the sport a couple of times on tv and not a big fan but would love to try it!! ;)
Great shots! We actually watched the curling competition on the Olympics and it was pretty interesting really! I learned a lot about it, I'd never heard of it before either!
You did great at sports photography! Your focus is dead-on!
Love the panning in that first shot. DH lived in Duluth before we were married, and then we lived in the Twin Cities, so I know curling!
Wow I have never heard of this before but it looks fun. I love the action you caught on that first shot.
I have heard of curling, but hadn't really seen it. Leave it to you to be able to show and explain it in a way that makes a whole lot of sense!
These are some great shots and I LOVE that a person in a wheelchair can participate as well. :o)
love #1! were you panning?
these are really interesting shots! i've never understood curling before.... although i'm still not sure if i really do or not! :)
great pictures!
DH and I get strangely fascinated by curling when they show it on TV during the Olympics. I've never known anyone who has seen it in real life--how cool! I did drive by a curling club in one of our coastal towns last summer and had to pull in to take a photo of the building.
I love watching curling. It makes me giggle.
Angela - you did an amazing job with these shots! Great action, color, focus, etc.! LOVE THEM!
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