Mike Belleme

  • Portraits I
  • Portraits II
  • Projects
  • States of Fear
  • Wild Roots
  • Greetings from Paradise
  • Kids of Hate and Love
  • Kids of Hate and Love Chap. II
  • Selected Assignments
  • Walmart -NYT
  • Can Bad Men Change -TIME
  • Chopperfest -Mashable
  • What to do about Tyler -Propublica
  • Silicon Hollar -NYT
  • The Progressive Liberal -Mashable
  • Stars and Bars -Al Jazeera
  • China Shock -WSJ
  • Mentors -Huck
  • The Trump Vote -NYT
  • Field Notes
  • Commercial
  • About

ASHEVILLE NC

828 606 9796
©2015 Mike Belleme

Kids of Hate and Love

The Kids of Hate and Love follows a group of skateboarders from Asheville, North Carolina. As someone who aggressively pursued a career in skateboarding from the age of twelve until about 24, I decided to direct my new focus, documentary photography, on an old passion that is still a big part of my life. This essay focuses on the emotions, intensity, frustration, drive and camaraderie that is the all encompassing world of skate culture. It has been interesting holding a magnifying glass up to the sub-culture that shaped me in so many ways. I have found ways that I have been influenced by the culture that I both like and don’t like. This long term project follows the same group, many of which I grew up skating with, over the course of several years as they grow up and find their place in the world.