In 1967, during his last semester of his senior year in college, he took his first photography class with the landscape photographer Art Sinsabaugh using the camera left to him by his recently deceased father.
Although he enrolled in a graduate program in humanities at the University of Louisville, he was drafted into the United States Army as an infantryman but was subsequently discharged for medical reasons incurred during his time with the Peace Corps.
[7] Following his landscape work Charles Traub made three well-known series of black-and-white photographs: Street, Parties, and his first monograph, Beach, all used an innovative vignette on a Rolleiflex SL66.
In 1971 Traub began teaching full-time at Columbia College Chicago, and was responsible of developing new curriculum for the growing public interest in the medium.
Traub's first major body of work in color, Street Portraits, began in 1976, continued after his move to New York City shortly thereafter, and culminated in his monograph Lunchtime.
Traub also showcased major photographers new to the gallery: William Klein, Luigi Ghirri, Ray Metzker, Mario Giacomelli and Louis Faurer among others.
[6] After leaving the gallery in 1980 he continued his personal work and formed the Wayfarer partnership with Jerry Gordon—a specialized editorial and corporate photography agency.
In 1987 Traub was asked to design a graduate studies program for the School of Visual Arts, which became the MFA Photography, Video and Related Media Department.
Creative projects that highlight Traub's integration of new technologies include the interactive website Still Life in America and the iBook No Perfect Heroes: Photographing Grant.