In 2018, I found myself in northern Uganda documenting a quietly radical kind of “self-help” instructional fieldwork led by Canadian geophysicist Paul Bauman and a small crew of committed volunteers. Their focus was on training local students—many shaped by years in IDP camps during the LRA conflict—to drill wells and repair pumps for their communities. Using stripped-down geophysical tools—a laptop, basic resistivity software, a car battery—they taught practical methods for locating groundwater and diagnosing hand pump failures, while the students chose the sites, organized support, and led the way. It was equal parts science, improvisation, and a deliberate shift toward local control of essential infrastructure.

These images of participants and benefactors sat in colour for years, but recently I revisited them and felt that black and white said something truer. Stripped of distraction, the portraits lean into the quiet dignity of the people we met and the gravity of what they were building for themselves, while the contextual photos ground these stories in a place that sits near the deep origins of our species.

Paul continues to lead humanitarian missions in the region—his ongoing work can be followed at https://www.paulbaumangeophysics.com/