We've featured a lot of neat photography on Neatorama, but looking back in the archives, these images are usually of artwork, animals, and landscapes. But who says that great photography has to be just that? Why not great photography of engineering in action?

That's exactly what Engineering News-Record just did with their 2012 The Year in Construction Photo Contest. The magazine has picked the best engineering-focused photos from both professional and amateur photographers. Take a look at their gallery: Link

Here are some of our favorites:

Auxiliary Water Supply System Upgrade, San Francisco, USA (Photo: Robin Scheswoh)

Photographer Robin Scheswoh works for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission. She took the photo above of a cistern in San Francisco in 1910, following the 1906 earthquake as part of the water source for the local fire department.

Water Line Replacement, Everett, Washington, USA (Photo: Will Austin)

It looks like a shot from the title sequence of James Bond, but the photo above is taken by freelance photographer Will Austin who was on assignment to cover a water pipeline replacement project. He stumbled on this shot of a welder deep inside a 48-inch diameter pipe. The shine on the wall is from the glare of the arc welder reflecting off the glossy epoxy lining of the pipe.

Pontiac Plant demolition, Pontiac, Michigan, USA (Photo: Stephen SetteDucati)

Amateur photographer Stephen Ducati knew that he could get a "potentially fantastic" photo as he climbed onto the ledge of a building overlooking the demolition yards of an old Pontiac assembly plant in Michigan. He was right. It is indeed, fantastic.

San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge, California, USA (Photo: Martin Chandrawinata)

Nobody told you in engineering school that mountain climbing would be part of your job! Hanna Group construction engineer Chandrawinata took this early (and very foggy) morning photo of the San Francisco/Oakland Bay Bridge as workers prepared for the installation of the suspension bridge's eastern span main cable.

Gdansk Tunnel, Gdansk, Poland (Photo: Marcin Bencer)

Local freelance photographer Marcin Bencer snapped this photo of the golden gleaming Gdansk's 42,000-seat PGE stadium in the background of a muddy, piled foundation ramp of a tunnel construction site.

Music City Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA (Photo: Bruce Cain/Elevated Lens Photography)

Photographer Bruce Cain mounted his camera on top of a 65-foot telescoping mast on his truck and snapped 24 photos of the 1.2 million sq-ft Music City Convention Center at dusk. He then stitched and blended the photos together, so he was able to "show the detail inside the building without making the sky too bright." ENR noted that in the middle of the photograph sat Amquip's 300-ton Liebherr crawler crane, the first crane at Ground Zero on Sept 13, 2001.

Pecorone Viaduct, Lauria, Italy (Photo: Emilio Filippelli/Regina Lopez Tudanca, Sacyr Vallehermoso S.A.)

Boom, goes the viaduct! Emilio Filippelli wanted to be as close as he could possible get in order to capture the power and technical control of the explosives being used to bring down the eroding Lauria Junction viaduct in Italy. We'd say he got pretty darned close.

View more over at ENR: Gallery | Full Story - Thanks Jordy!