Comic genius Mitch Hedberg used to say, “An elevator can never break; it can only become stairs.” Unfortunately Mitch died in 2005. But unlike escalators and drug-addled comics, a well-crafted set of stairs can survive for centuries.
Through all the differences in culture and geography that permeate our world, one indelible constant remains: stairs. Human beings, though not gifted with claws or suction cups for climbing, have an insatiable desire to go up. Stairs offer us easy passage to the places we want to go. They become a seat when we are tired and can provide a place of community when we are lonely.
So take a deep breath, pull up a stair, and enjoy this visual journey of stairs ’round the world.
If you like our ‘Round the World series, you might enjoy some of the previous themes: chess, foods, silhouettes, outhouses, cemeteries and donkeys.
Click on the thumbnails to view the images. If you’d like to see more work by any of the photographers featured here then follow the link that appears below each photo.
Enjoy.
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- United States (no link – I snapped this one from inside an ice cave in WA state)
