Scientists say it is the nature of certain species to migrate to more seductive environs where the feeding is good, the living is easy and every individual's first duty is to breed and make love. How else to explain the decision of millions of people to leave their homes and go down to the sea each summer? What but the promise of sensual adventure would prompt civilized men and women to shed their clothes, drench themselves in oil and stretch out their bodies to bake in the sun? And even some salt-water sports evince a certain primal suggestiveness. You don't have to be an anthropologist to recognize the symbolism of half-clad surfers riding sleek boards toward beaches filled with semi-nude women. It all makes for some enticing photography, as evidenced the following images by beach roamer Charles Traub and sub-aquatic shooter Wayne Levin.

It's been nearly ten years now since Charles Traub first began photographing people on beaches all over the world. He "delights in the unabashed display of human bodies that is usually present at the side of the water." There is certainly something about the beach that encourages overt sexuality. Maybe it's the humidity of the relentless way the sun beats at the top of the head; it undoubtedly helps to be unencumbered by clothes and the restrictions they entail. So Traub unashamedly roams the beach watching and photographing the way people react and interreact to each other and the environment.

But there's more going on in Traub's photographs than simple interpersonal relationships. The honesty of Traub's images captures a range of postures that fully clothed individuals may be reluctant to reveal. And the result is not always flattering. In Traub's photographs, bathing suits seem to always be just a bit askew, so the wearer never looks perfectly at ease. It's glaringly obvious that these sunbathers are not the stuff of fashion magazine fantasies. Furthermore, a careful viewing of the images serves to confirm the photographer's own presence, a presence that becomes increasingly disturbing. Traub acknowledges the "voyeuristic implications" of the medium and the framing, angle of view and the absence of subject-to-camera confrontation support that admission. What Traub may not realize is that his photographs are compelling not only for what they reveal about his subjects, but also because they offer us a glimpse into the photographer's own motives.

Traub calls the beach "a place of display, for sightseeing and random encounter." And in his role as photographer, Traub takes full advantage of sights proffered. His photographs take the viewer on an uncensored tour of the photographer's personal amusement park, where sex and sand are the main attractions.