08/11/2026
Wonderful fieldwork session with Megan Tranquillo of Typothecary Letterpress.
Environmental portrait made with 4 x 5 large format film camera + contact print with supplemental digital images for the documentary project: The Long Way Home: A Documentary Exploration of People, Place, and Belonging in Contemporary America.
“I was watching a demonstration given by a group of mostly older, retired guys that grew up learning how to print in school. They’re the ones who are really saving this vintage equipment. They've been saving these presses. But I've always been interested in tiny, tiny things, like miniatures. And when I saw their drawers of tiny type, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I need to do this.’ So I just started taking classes up and down the East Coast. I started buying presses. They taught me how to run a treadle press and how to set type. And then the rest was just kind of me figuring stuff out. This is my creative outlet. I’m not sitting behind a computer — this is a tactile experience. And when you pull that first print off the press — it never gets old. I don't care what it is that I'm printing. You pull that thing off the press, it's like, ‘Oh my gosh, yes!’ This is why I do this.”
Read Megan's full story soon and sign up for occasional Field Notes and "The Long Way Home" updates at the link below:https://www.dusenberyphoto.com/projects
