Skateboarding, maybe more than any other sport, has an almost tangible solidarity within its communities. In Skate the World: Photographing One World of Skateboarding (National Geographic, 240 pages, $16.50), photographer Jonathan Mehring explores this unity across the globe. “Skateboarders share the understanding that we’ve suffered for the same cause. We’ve conquered our fears, hit the pavement hard, seen our own blood, gotten up, and tried again," he writes in the introduction.
Skate the World chronicles skateboarders grinding, ollying, and catching record-breaking air on nearly every continent.
“Skateboarding is actually a form of self-expression akin to dance or painting,” Mehring writes. “The board is the artist’s paintbrush, and the world is his or her canvas.”
At left, Joseph Biais skates a 50-50 grind in Merzouga, Morocco.
LoÃÂÃÂÃÂïc Benoit courtesy of National Geographic
Danny Way achieves a world-record 23-foot Method Air in Aguanga, California.
Mike Blabac courtesy of National Geographic
Josh Kalis pushes across the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
Mike Blabac courtesy of National Geographic
Aaron “Jaws” Homoki does a kickflip in Utah.
Jonathan Mehring courtesy of National Geographic
Alex Olson’s wallride in New York City.
Jonathan Mehring courtesy of National Geographic
Jack Sabback executes a backside lipside in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Jonathan Mehring via courtesy of National Geographic
Marius Syvanen skates a backside kickflip in Madrid.
Dave Chami courtesy of National Geographic
Michael Makrodt skates a frontside blunt in Dong Hoi, Vietnam.
Jonathan Mehring courtesy of National Geographic
Kenny Anderson pulls a backside tailslide in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Jonathan Mehring courtesy of National Geographic
Christian Low does a wallride in Ordos, China.
Jake Darwen courtesy of National Geographic
Omar Hassan gets backside air in Sydney.
Mike OâMeally courtesy of National Geographic
