According to Mannchen, “there are certain things and items in life that draw us in, especially as children: items that fascinate us because of their beauty, items that capture our attention because of their strangeness, items that stir our minds and take us on a journey in our imagination. Some of them never lose their effect on us, even when we are all grown up and have succumbed to being adults. Their fascinations still intrigue us after all these years. Such items help us to establish bridges to our childhood and in the end we experience, that it is never too late to have a happy childhood.”

In the series “Lost Boys,” he photographs such items: things that evoke the inner child in him and never seem to bait his curiosity; things that spur memories of childhood when the world appeared bigger and the problems, responsibilities, and commitments were much smaller, a time when friendships were unquestionably solid, bills nonexistent, and time irrelevant. He brings us back to the past when “the only commitment was to our dreams.”