Last Sunday morning, I made some time to do a site documentation visit to Kampung Jalan Papan, Klang. The site of recent protests by residents against the demolition of their houses by property developers. Several activists from Parti Socialist Malaysia as well as civil society colleagues were arrested.

Site visits for documentation is important for civil society and journalists. It gives you local context, of the people living there, the community and a sense of scale. Satellite overlays and Google Street Views can only give you so much information and sense of what's being reported.

For civil society and journalists, documentation is also very important, when it comes to marginalised communities. It prevents the dehumanisation of these communities by making them visible. To capture their stories, their hopes, their struggles, their history and the vibrant communities they live in. It is all too easy for corrupt politicians and greedy developers to treat them as faceless troublemakers, especially if there are no pictures or stories from them.

For someone who usually works with data and documents, it also gives me a wider context of what's happening and what to look for. The displacement of marginalised communities by property developers has been going on for decades in Malaysia. I can now see better what's coming next for marginalised or purposeful neglect/marginalisation of communities by local government, especially where there are large profits to be made for future property development. I also have gained a new appreciation for the diversity of Klang communities. So many stories to be told.

Also each documentation trip is good experience and practice to become better at it. I learned a few things I could do better next time.

• Prepare a checklist of all the photos you need to capture.
  • From the checklist, I can plan better what lenses I should bring and be using.
• Don't rush. I was rushing, because it was a 55km return trip by bicycle, because I wanted to avoid the hot afternoon sun for the long ride home. It would be more productive if I planned at least a day, maybe have a lunch break, before heading home. Part of this was out of my control, because both public transit train lines to Klang haven't started (LRT3) or down (KTM). As a result I missed some photo opportunities, and also poorer quality of photos to select from.
• Practice and research. For example, more experience capturing market/community scenes, as well as abandoned/demolished buildings would be helpful, as is reviewing the work of other photojournalists or documenters for similar stories, to plan shots.