Concrete stairway from the No. 2 shaft office at Ikeshima Coal Mine up to the apartment blocks, a climber on both walls and leaves on the treads.
Concrete stairway from the No. 2 shaft office at Ikeshima Coal Mine up to the apartment blocks, a climber on both walls and leaves on the treads.

Stairway Up

Provenance

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

Concrete steps climbing between two retaining walls under a climber. Dry leaves on the treads and runners trailing down the steps. A blank sign frame spanning the top of the stairway. The balconies of a concrete apartment block beyond, seen through bare winter branches.

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

Concrete steps rise between ivy-covered and bare retaining walls at Ikeshima, a worn white sign frame hanging above the lower treads and power lines crossing a blue sky overhead.Concrete steps rise between ivy-covered and bare retaining walls at Ikeshima, a worn white sign frame hanging above the lower treads and power lines crossing a blue sky overhead.Concrete steps rise between ivy-covered and bare retaining walls at Ikeshima, a worn white sign frame hanging above the lower treads and power lines crossing a blue sky overhead.Concrete steps rise between ivy-covered and bare retaining walls at Ikeshima, a worn white sign frame hanging above the lower treads and power lines crossing a blue sky overhead.Concrete steps rise between ivy-covered and bare retaining walls at Ikeshima, a worn white sign frame hanging above the lower treads and power lines crossing a blue sky overhead.
01 PROVENANCE

Print datasheet

Title
Stairway Up
Series
Ikeshima
Catalogue
IKE-033
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

The stairs that carried mine workers home, climbing from the No. 2 shaft office at Ikeshima Coal Mine to the company housing of Ikeshima-machi on the ground above. A climber has taken both retaining walls and closed in overhead, dry leaves lie across the treads, and its runners trail down the steps themselves. A sign frame spans the top of the stairway, its lettering weathered to a few faint strokes, and beyond it the balconies of a concrete apartment block show through bare winter branches. This was the walk up after the bath: shift over, coal washed off, home a few minutes uphill.

04 FROM THE FIELD NOTES

The stairs that carried mine workers home, climbing from the No. 2 shaft office at Ikeshima Coal Mine to the company housing of Ikeshima-machi on the ground above. A climber has taken both retaining walls and closed in overhead, dry leaves lie across the treads, and its runners trail down the steps themselves.

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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