The photographer who captured people driving in LA in the Seventies

Inspired by the automobile as an American icon, a teenage Mike Mandel took to the streets of LA, armed with his camera. Now his incredible photographs form a new book called People in Cars
1/10
Liz Connor15 May 2017

“I think I started shooting the project after seeing Robert Frank's book The Americans,” says photographer Mike Mendel.

“There are quite a few iconic American symbols that reverberate throughout that work and one is certainly the car.”

In the early 1970s, at just 20 years old, Mandel took to the streets of LA with a 35mm camera and several hours to kill. What followed next was a passion project that would result in 70 rolls of film and, 45 years later, a new book called People in Cars.

“I was a little bit intimidated by the idea of street photography,” he tells The Evening Standard. “But it seemed kind of exciting to be able to make photographs of people who were in their cocoon of a car.”

Walking to an intersection half a block from his house, Mandel began to take candid photographs of the characters that passed him in their cars, filling his camera with these serendipitous moments.

“I really enjoyed the idea that instead of me going out into the world looking for pictures, all of the pictures were coming to me,” says Mandel. “All I had to do was be there on that corner with my wide-angle lens.”

“The shots required me to get fairly close to the car, maybe two feet away, which would inevitably cause a response from the drivers,” he continues. “The look that the drivers gave back to me was what the project was all about for me.”

Revisiting the photographs he shot for People in Cars, Mandel says he can see things now that he didn’t appreciate when he was much younger

“I think what resonates with people today, looking at the project, is that it was a completely different era,” he says. “People were smoking in their car and kids were sitting in the front seat without seatbelts."

"In a way, it was a more naïve time.”

People in Cars by Mike Mandel is out now May 12, published by Stanley/Barker.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in

MORE ABOUT