Visual methods have a long history in anthropology, going back to the early-1900s, when anthropologists (e.g. Franz Boas, Margaret Mead, Gregory Bateson, Evans-Prichard, etc.) used photos and videos as a means of recording “Othered” populations during their fieldwork. Visual methods encompass a wide range of approaches – from photography to photo elicitation, family photo, mental and cognitive mapping, graffiti and content analysis, and filmmaking, among others. However, these methods had not gained salience in anthropology for long. There has also been a debate about anthropological relevance versus aesthetic composition, one that privileges the ‘anthropological’ over the ‘aesthetic’, or over the visual in general. Visual ethnography seems to have found a new lease of life among certain anthropological communities. As an ethnographer, I find photography and filmmaking to be of vital importance as a means of storytelling. To this end, I have been photo-documenting various facets of life and livelihoods in the island geographies of Assam. My upcoming film, Listening to the River, is a story of everyday life in the fragile geographies of Majuli river island in the Brahmaputra valley, in the larger context of climate change and environmental disasters. Shot over a period of three years, the film brings together stories of disaster and sufferings, local traditional knowledges and resilience, and co-existence and love between humans and non-humans. I view visual ethnography not only as an effective means to present a complex story in a simpler manner but also as empowering for local communities.