ENR’s annual photo contest shows readers and online viewers how team effort, like the scene pictured above, gets construction projects done.

But the images, in many cases, are themselves products of individuals connecting. That link between the photo artist and his or her jobsite subject, even unplanned and for a brief few seconds, can tell a unique story that benefits both—whether it’s the electrical crew disappearing into tight quarters, the lined face of a veteran superintendent or the energy of an eager craftworker.

A woman ironworker helps a photographer maneuver for better vantage in an off-limits work area, producing a winning image for him and new industry status for her and peers.

Repeat contest winner Marie Tagudena put it just right, noting how her photo taken on the Gerald Desmond bridge in California would be just “falsework and beams” without the timing of a worker who entered the shot at the perfect moment to show “that sense of movement, of work being done.”