The ENR McGraw-Hill 2013 Best Global Projects Awards was well organized, like most social events orchestrated by engineers.  Dinner prompt at 6:30; alphabetically ordered project descriptions at 7:30. Winning teams paraded to the platform in business suits; there was only a smattering of women.  ENR snapped a formal photograph, followed by the random click of iPhones, general applause and on to the next winner.  Dessert served before 8:30, everything finished by 9:00 pm.

I believe I smiled direct at the camera for the main photo but somehow I could not maintain that attention, so what appeared on Len Gengel’s iPhone was this peculiar image of me right angling into space.  Back at our table, we all had a good laugh at my clueless expression, but I realized it was not something new. The photo captures the very same person gaping away from the view finder – wondering what in tarnation I am supposed to be doing – that inhabits the earliest photo of me at age 22 months. The more things change, the more the stay the same.

Paul E. Fallon, looking away at ENR McGraw-Hill Awards, 2013

Paul E. Fallon, looking away at Christmas, 1956