Friday, October 16, 2015

Stair Step Children



The real photo postcard above has no identifying information. I bought it because it is a classic example of a portrait of stair step children. The term stair step children sometimes refers to children of a family who are spaced closely in age. Its meaning is more obvious when the children are spaced fairly evenly, but farther apart. When the children are lined up standing from youngest to oldest, or shortest to tallest, they resemble stair steps

Below is a family portrait I found on the Internet. It was posted on a Polish blog here, along with some other old pictures of children. There are seven steps here--five children and two parents.



To See More Vintage Images

http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/2015/10/sepia-saturday-301-17-october-2015.html

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12 comments:

  1. Little NellOctober 16, 2015 at 2:03:00 PM CDT

    That’s a new one for me and I’ll be looking out for exmples from now on. It makes perfect sense really.

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  2. UnknownOctober 16, 2015 at 3:42:00 PM CDT

    Love the Stair Step Family!

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  3. Helen Killeen Bauch McHargueOctober 16, 2015 at 4:16:00 PM CDT

    Clever idea. The Polish family is great!

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  4. JofeathOctober 16, 2015 at 10:05:00 PM CDT

    Lovely! Tre were 2-2.5 years between each of our four, but I don't think we ever thought of intentionally lining them up in order for a 'step stair' photo like these.

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  5. BoobookOctober 17, 2015 at 6:03:00 AM CDT

    I had four younger siblings but we were never lined up like this. I'll have to go through our old albums to see if I can find some examples.

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  6. KristinOctober 17, 2015 at 10:19:00 AM CDT

    I have one stair step of my distant cousin, her husband and her children lined up with horns.

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  7. La NightingailOctober 17, 2015 at 11:35:00 AM CDT

    This was an interesting take on the prompt. My sisters and I, when we reached our adult heights, were within an inch of each other. Youngest sis was 5'5". Middle: 5'5 1/2", and I was 5'6". We all thought that was neat. But I ruined it all when, sometime after my 19th birthday, I grew another inch! Unusual, but it happens. My daughters went on to an inch and two beyond me, but now I'm shrinking - back down to 5'6 1/2". Such are the dirty tricks of age!

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  8. 21 WitsOctober 17, 2015 at 7:01:00 PM CDT

    Wow, they are in perfect downward steps!

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  9. Mike BrubakerOctober 17, 2015 at 10:32:00 PM CDT

    They are a very attractive quartet. I have a few photos like this but never knew there was a common name for the style.

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  10. RosieOctober 18, 2015 at 6:42:00 AM CDT

    This is really neat, love the effect!!!

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  11. WendyOctober 20, 2015 at 2:59:00 PM CDT

    I am drawn to stair steps as well. Unfortunately in my family, many kids were born too far apart to generate a proper stair step photo.

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  12. anyjazzOctober 26, 2015 at 4:54:00 AM CDT

    Now there's a good category. Stair step portraits.

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