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Posted On: August 19th 2026, 01:21 pm
@americapostcards California Flying Cars from the Future
California Flying Cars from the Future is a photographic series rooted in the visual imagination of postwar America, inspired by the optimism of the Space Age, science fiction, UFO culture, and the belief in unlimited technological progress. Its title references the popular vision of the future known from Back to the Future, while its visual language reaches back to the dreams and aesthetics of the 1950s and 1960s.
During a three-week bicycle journey through California, I photographed classic American cars in the streets of Los Angeles and surrounding neighborhoods. In post-production, I removed only one element—the wheels. This minimal intervention transforms familiar automobiles into hovering objects suspended between reality and fantasy, suggesting a future that never arrived.
The project balances documentary photography and fiction. Equally important as the cars are the Californian streets, houses, fences, gardens, and urban landscapes that surround them, creating a portrait of everyday American life. Presented in a consistent side-profile composition, the photographs form a typological series that emphasizes the sculptural qualities of the vehicles while inviting viewers to imagine an alternative version of the future—one filled with nostalgia, irony, and childhood dreams.
California Flying Cars from the Future is a photographic series rooted in the visual imagination of postwar America, inspired by the optimism of the Space Age, science fiction, UFO culture, and the belief in unlimited technological progress. Its title references the popular vision of the future known from Back to the Future, while its visual language reaches back to the dreams and aesthetics of the 1950s and 1960s.
During a three-week bicycle journey through California, I photographed classic American cars in the streets of Los Angeles and surrounding neighborhoods. In post-production, I removed only one element—the wheels. This minimal intervention transforms familiar automobiles into hovering objects suspended between reality and fantasy, suggesting a future that never arrived.
The project balances documentary photography and fiction. Equally important as the cars are the Californian streets, houses, fences, gardens, and urban landscapes that surround them, creating a portrait of everyday American life. Presented in a consistent side-profile composition, the photographs form a typological series that emphasizes the sculptural qualities of the vehicles while inviting viewers to imagine an alternative version of the future—one filled with nostalgia, irony, and childhood dreams.
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