By 1969, more than half a million American men were drafted into the Armed Forces and sent to fight in Vietnam. Two weeks before their departure, infantry soldier Charles Traub contracted an illness and was subsequently discharged – a fortunate event that changed his life forever.
With a new lease on life, Traub decided to pursue his passion for photography at the Chicago Institute of Design. “Photography was still ‘in the basement,’ as they say, in museums and other schools, and it was really exciting to be in a place where it was taken very seriously as an art form,” Traub, who completed his studies alongside such great photographers as Aaron Siskind, Garry Winogrand and Arthur Siegel, tells AnOther in an interview.
During the 1970s Traub began to create three black-and-white photographic series, Street, Parties and Beach, the latter of which became his first monograph in 1977. After completing Beach, he turned to color photography, creating Lunchtime, a series of vivid street portraits of New Yorkers at midday.
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Whether it’s Rio, Jamaica, Chicago, Los Angeles or New York, public beaches are extremely democratic. You don’t know who’s who. It’s all free. It’s a great escape and everyone is playful. They take the mask off and humanism spills out
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But the beach was always there for Traub, who never stopped returning to the shore, capturing moments of overt sensuality, humour and languor. “The beach is the place where all the self-consciousness of everyday life is left,” he claims. “There is a physical exposure without inhibitions and an intimacy that people would not allow in any other public space. Whether it’s Rio, Jamaica, Chicago, Los Angeles or New York, public beaches are extremely democratic. You don’t know who’s who. It’s all free. It’s a great escape and everyone is playful. They take off the mask and humanism spills out.”
Although Traub didn’t intend to make this project a life’s work, it turned out to be one – ironic for a man who isn’t particularly interested in lying in the sand or splashing in the surf.
Today Traub revisits his half-century of travels in his new book, Remembrances of Summers’ Past (Interlocutor Press), a glorious celebration of the freedom that can only be found when playing half-naked at the water’s edge.
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Charles Traub’s book Remembrances of Summers’ Past is published by Interlocutor Press.
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