When Patrick Gookin moved to Los Angeles in 2010 to work as a photo editor, he faced an hour-long commute from Koreatown where he lived, to the beach neighborhood where he worked. In an effort to avoid freeway traffic and deepen his experience of LA, he began driving through city streets. As he explored this uncharted landscape he took quick iPhone photos of strangers along the way, drawn to the secrecy that shooting from his car provided, and how that seemed to clash with their presence in open, public spaces. After making and sharing these images repeatedly on Instagram for a year, Gookin started to stage the photos, working with actors and a point and shoot 35mm camera, evolving the photographs into his series LA By Car.