"About 16 kilograms sir, that Tapah fish!" Irwansyah excitedly told us about the big fish he had caught. His hands were spread out, illustrating the length of the fish. His gaze wandered to all those present at the CLICK Panda program monitoring! Sebangau, Wednesday, December 10, 2014. "It's very rare to catch fish that big now," he said. Pride was tucked into his intonation. But when asked where his photo was, he sighed. "Forgot to take a photo Pak" said the man who is often called Teteh. His intonation no longer flared up.

The experience told by Irwansyah may be true. The various stories circulating from the mouths of Sebangau fishermen about large catches of fish are not new. However, facts need evidence. Facts conveyed orally can be hyperbolic, exaggerated, or also suffer from a lack of information. Although Irwasnyah can describe well where he caught the big fish, how he caught it, what fishing gear he used, when he got the luck, it is not enough to complete the story. The 5W 1H formula is lacking, especially in this era, when people believe in visuals more easily.

For this reason, photography is not trivial. Irwansyah may not have to go to great lengths to make his audience believe that he has a photo of his successful capture of a giant tapah. Simply show the photo, add information about the location, time, and how it was caught, and the fact will be easily accepted. The fact that the Sebangau River holds a wealth of freshwater fish was finally not just oral. Photographs became proof that this was true, proof that the story was not fiction.

Compare Irwansyah's story with that of Zulkarnaen (31), one of the Panda CLICK! participants from Bunut sub-district, Kapuas Hulu, who managed to record an orangutan enjoying fruit in the forest not far from Teluk Aur hamlet. He captured four close-ups and two wide-angle shots. His efforts succeeded in proving the existence of orangutans in his neighborhood, without having to say much. Coupled with a few questions of when, where, how, and so on, Zulkarnaen's story has been able to convince his audience.

Some people still think that photos are simply a documentation effort; memorizing something interesting that is worth remembering. Of course, there is some truth to that. Supliansyah (27), a Panda CLICK! participant from Selawati fishing lodge, Sebangau, expressed his disappointment when several photos of his grandparents were accidentally deleted. In fact, it was the only chance he had to record the figures he cared about. "Not long after, they died. We don't have their photos at all," she says. Documentation can be a proof of existence, the existence of someone or something. The existence of Supliansyah's grandparents can be remembered by Supliansyah and his family. The existence of the big tapah fish can be something that Irwansyah and other Sebangau communities can remember and be proud of.

However, photography's capabilities are not limited to the documentation space, which will eventually become obsolete in an archive room and gather dust decades later, or continue to reside on a memory card and eventually become extinct along with the destruction of electronic objects. Photography is also a language, complementing the meaning of words. Furthermore, photography can be a means of being, of existence, of a person or a community, which in this case is a marginalized community (a community that tends to be overlooked in development priorities) if used according to its substance in the space of meaning.

Abroorza Ahmad Yusra is a writer and environmental activist, active in the West Kalimantan Literature Forum, WWF-Indonesia West Kalimantan Program, and Yayasan Planet Indonesia. In the Panda CLICK! program, together with several other writers, he has collaborated in writing the books "Crystal Eye, Panda CLICK! Bunut Hilir District", and "Rana Jelundung, Panda CLICK! Nanga Jelundung and Rantau Malam". Currently residing in Pontianak. Can be contacted via email [email protected]