#Charles h. truab

[auntymurda]

lunchtime series. 1977-198O. photography by charles h. traub. — | originally posted by itssmalcolm on instagram.

[rynnnnc]

Research Post #2: Truab's Do's and Dont's

Born in 1945, Charles H. Traub has been a significant contributor to the world of photography. During the early 1970s, Traub taught photography at Columbia College in Chicago. Once he became a chair member within his department, Traub founded what is now the Museum of Contemporary Photography (MOCP). Traub is likely most known for his Lunchtime book, a complation of extreme close-up street portraits of people from cities he resided in throughout his life such as New York City and Chicago.

For this post, I won't be covering a direct piece of work from Traub, and instead will go over some of his lessons, compare some photos I've taken with his rules, and come to my conclusion on their validity. You can the lessons here: https://www.flakphoto.news/p/charles-h-traubs-dos-and-donts

The first "Do" rule which stuck out to me was "If it can be done digitally, do it":

This one sticks out to me as much of my projects this semester involves the use of crafts to create characters within a setting. My understanding of this rule is that there's no reason not to use the tools available to you, so working digitally can save you much more time and stress. For my Project 3, I was questioned about why I didn't just use digital drawing tools instead of paper drawings. In hindsight, the paper motif was something that I wish i could've executed better, especially in a "cartoony" context (I had an idea of the doodle character lighting themselves on fire with a cigarette). Using digital software for touch-ups would've definitely helped the quality, but to me using mediums like paper and clay for these projects is the whole point; I personally don't want digitally drawn characters to be the 'subject' of what I'm working on (although there are ways to cheat it in ways that save time). I do agree with Traub for using digital if possible (I almost lost most of these drawings from a 2mph wind), but I tend to be more intrigued by more analogue works whenever they pop up. I'm still proud of my attempt, but I can see how it might further prove this lesson's point.

One of his "Do Not" rules which caught my attention was to not take photos of your grandmother (especially if they're dying/sick).

It's hard not to feel called out in some ways by these 'lessons' but I have my interpretation of what he means. While I tried to avoid this with my own grandma in earlier posts, having a sick family member seems like a recipe for easy sympathy points that can be farmed for clout. Not only is it completely disrespectful and exploitative, but it also just seems like a obvious subject matter that some people like me will just randomly have access to. In the context of my weekend post, I must disagree since my grandmother just happened to become a daily part of my life at this time; it's simply worth mentioning her. In a 'higher art' context, relying on this kind of subject exclusively seems inherently manipulative and quite lazy.

References:

https://www.charlestraub.com/biography

https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/charles-h-traub?all/all/all/all/0

https://www.flakphoto.news/p/charles-h-traubs-dos-and-donts