LIFE
FORCE
The magazine of the photo-essay
June 2017 back issue
People in Cars
by Mike Mandel
“A free, really high quality photo-essay magazine. Fabulous!”
Stephen Fry. British actor, writer and film & documentary maker
Mike Mandel grew up in the San Fernando Valley, and as an kid in the 1950s
could walk just about everywhere he needed to go: to school, or later down
the street to the open field to collect rocks or catch lizards. All of his friends l
ived on his block, so he didn’t think too much about the time he spent in a car.
But by the time he reached twenty in 1970, he realised how large a role the car
would play in his life, and so began to photograph the inhabitants of 1970s
California in their cars.
“On a late afternoon with the light low in the west I’d regularly find my spot on the
corner of Victory Blvd. and Coldwater Canyon Ave. in Van Nuys (ironically, so
close to home I could easily walk there). It was a busy intersection with a wealth of cars pulling my way to make a right
turn. I was using a 28mm wide angle lens on my 35mm camera, which meant that I had to get in pretty close to the
window to get my shot, and when I did there would inevitably be a reaction: surprise, amusement, and on some few
occasions, annoyance.
“In contrast to how this project might play out today, it seemed then that people enjoyed being recognised by the
camera and readily participated in the playfulness of the moment. It was warm outside, the car windows were open. It
was the window that framed and instilled these portraits with the language of the automobile environment.”
— Mike Mandel
