Concrete steps down to the No. 2 Shaft Office at Ikeshima Coal Mine, a rusted steel balustrade in a concrete kerb alongside.
Concrete steps down to the No. 2 Shaft Office at Ikeshima Coal Mine, a rusted steel balustrade in a concrete kerb alongside.

Stairway Down

Provenance

Camera
Nikon F100
Film
Fujifilm Velvia 50 · 35mm · ISO 50
Paper
Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm

Concrete steps descending, a pale non-slip strip on each tread. A steel balustrade set in a concrete kerb on one side, rusted, with balusters broken off at the base. Evergreen shrubs crowding both edges. Overhead wires across the sky at left. A flat concrete roof below with standing water on it. Open sea beyond.

Edition
Open edition

Open edition
Printed to order, no fixed quantity. Each print is hand-signed by the photographer.

Limited edition
A fixed number of prints exist. Once sold, the edition closes permanently. Each print is individually numbered and signed.

$100.00 AUD
Size
Type
Colour
✓
Signed, numbered, with COA. Made to order in 5 to 10 business days (unframed). Shipped in protective packaging with edition certificate, paper-stock reference and a printed care guide.
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In situ

A steep concrete staircase with a rusted railing descends through dense green foliage at Ikeshima, with power lines crossing a bright sky and the sea visible below.A steep concrete staircase with a rusted railing descends through dense green foliage at Ikeshima, with power lines crossing a bright sky and the sea visible below.A steep concrete staircase with a rusted railing descends through dense green foliage at Ikeshima, with power lines crossing a bright sky and the sea visible below.A steep concrete staircase with a rusted railing descends through dense green foliage at Ikeshima, with power lines crossing a bright sky and the sea visible below.A steep concrete staircase with a rusted railing descends through dense green foliage at Ikeshima, with power lines crossing a bright sky and the sea visible below.
01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title
Stairway Down
Series
Ikeshima
Catalogue
IKE-032
Process
Giclée
Captured
17 January 2026
Camera
Nikon F100
Film
Fujifilm Velvia 50
Format
35mm
Film ISO
50
Paper
Ilford Galerie Smooth Cotton Rag 310 gsm
Location
Ikeshima, Nagasaki, Japan
Recognised by
Highly Commended in Multimedia at the 2016 National Trust of Australia (NSW) Heritage Awards
02 LOCATION

Ikeshima, Nagasaki, Japan

Map · Mapbox · OpenStreetMap

03 THE STORY

About this print

Concrete steps run down from Ikeshima-machi to the No. 2 Shaft Office at Ikeshima Coal Mine, each tread carrying a pale non-slip strip under a skin of grit and fallen leaves. A steel balustrade stands in a concrete kerb along one side, its cream paint gone to rust, a run of its balusters broken off at the base. Evergreen shrubs have closed over both edges of the flight. Below, water lies in a sheet across the office's flat roof and holds the sky, overhead wires cross above it, and the sea runs out past the parapet to a hazy horizon. These are the stairs the mine workers climbed home.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

Concrete steps run down from Ikeshima-machi to the No. 2 Shaft Office at Ikeshima Coal Mine, each tread carrying a pale non-slip strip under a skin of grit and fallen leaves.

Brett Patman

Ikeshima

The series

Ikeshima

1959 to 2001 · 54 photographs

Ikeshima Coal Mine operated beneath the seabed off Nagasaki from 1959 until 29 November 2001, making it the last new coal mine to open in Japan and the last large-scale underground colliery to close. At its 1970 peak the island held 7,770 residents on a 0.86 km² rock in the Gotō Sea, housed in company-built concrete towers above a mine that reached 650 m below sea level.

View all in this series →

05 SIZE GUIDE

Print sizes

The anatomy view shows what this finish is as a physical object: paper margin, mat band, frame depth, acrylic profile. The comparison strip shows how each size sits relative to the others at true scale. Click a size or a finish to update both.

Anatomy · true ratio
07 MORE FROM IKESHIMA

53 other prints in this series

All prints
Dim office at Ikeshima Coal Mine, a white hard hat and a cup on two desks below a buckled venetian blind.
Hard Hat$100.00
View from an apartment window in Ikeshima-machi, utility pole and wires above silver grass with the Matsushima power station chimney across the sea.
Apartment Window$100.00
Window in the No. 2 Shaft office at Ikeshima Coal Mine, glass gone and a creeper hanging in over the sill above the sea.
Ocean Outlook$100.00
Pithead bath in the No. 2 Shaft office at Ikeshima Coal Mine, concrete troughs on a tiled floor with a vent fan on the far wall.
Pithead Bath$100.00
08 BY POST · NO SPAM

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