We present the results of an imaging survey, from the optical to the mid-infrared, of the dark cloud associated with Car I, a dense cloud that is subject to an intense ultraviolet radiation field from the rich stellar cluster Trumpler 14. New ground-based broad- and narrow-band near-infrared and narrow-band optical images are analysed in combination with archived Spitzer/Infra-Red Array Camera (IRAC) images to study this photodissociation region (PDR) and the triggering of a new generation of stars within the cloud, particularly close to its edges. Evidence is given of a clumpy morphology of the dense cloud. The ionization/dissociation front is delineated at the edges of these clumps. The existence of a number of embedded low- to intermediate-mass pre-main-sequence objects is confirmed by their considerable infrared excesses arising from discs and/or detectable X-ray emission. Most of the young stellar objects (YSOs) are located on or just behind ionization fronts, though a few are also outside the cloud. The infrared properties of the YSOs are discussed.