Good Photos. Goodman's first ENR cover appeared in 1988 (left).

This week’s magazine features the 100th ENR cover photo taken by extraordinary construction photographer Michael Goodman. Earlier this year, Goodman joined the magazine’s masthead as contributing photographer.

The son of Grow Tunneling executive William Goodman, Michael comes naturally to his passion for construction. He quickly discovered he could put his photography degree from University of California at San Diego to work in the industry. On assignment for Grow in 1978, he was “mesmerized” by the lights, sounds and activities of the huge machines at work building the cavernous main valve chamber for the New York City water tunnel. He had found his niche.

His association with ENR began in 1988 when a photo of an inclined tunnel he took for Grow, connecting a transit station to the Exchange Place tower in Jersey City, N.J., was chosen as an ENR cover. “I had found an avid partner who shared the same enthusiasm, vision and fascination with construction that I had,” Goodman says.

Goodman has traveled around the U.S. and to 31 other countries shooting photos for ENR and on assignment for design firms and contractors. He points to his collage cover of photos from Indonesia as a personal favorite from his work for ENR (ENR 7/22/96). He visited power and petrochemical projects in the jungles of Java and Sumatra with Editor Emeritus Howard Stussman. “While we were there, two journalists were jailed by the government,” he recalls. “I said, ‘Howard, whatever you write, would you write it after we leave the country?’”

Goodman says he has felt a “mission” to photograph the aftermath of the World Trade Center disaster—both the monumental industry effort that went into clearing the site and the reconstruction yet to come.

At Ground Zero and in all his work, Goodman combines construction savvy with artistry (which he says he got from his mother-the-art-dealer’s side of the family). “I enjoy finding the art in construction,” Goodman says. “To do something well, that gives you joy, that you believe in strongly and that others appreciate, is a great benefit.” We have been privileged to partner with this artist and look forward to continuing to document construction projects around the world.

Janice L. Tuchman
Editor-in-Chief