Meet Anshil Popli | Photographer & Director

We had the good fortune of connecting with Anshil Popli and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Anshil, is your business focused on helping the community? If so, how?
When you think about California, a lot of people have the standard sunset/ocean backdrop in mind. The tourist perspective couldn’t be further from the truth. I think a lot of times the way the average man lives goes unnoticed. We have high crime, terrible schools, entire sections of cities that are seemingly forgotten for “up and coming” areas or being renovated to price residents out. With my photography, I wanted to give a voice to a lot of what we see throughout various communities in California as a whole to let you know what it really feels like to be trapped in the rat race that exists here. I’m just trying to tell the stories of the regular person.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My name is Anshil Popli or (@anshil.jpg), I’m a photographer, a director and a bougie food enthusiast.

Being most proud of something specific is something I struggle with. I find after things are over, I lose interest and start picking them apart. With photos, I only look at them a few times before deeming them throw aways or worthy to share. Sure, there are some here and there that stick but I’m highly hyper critical of myself. I’m always chasing the same high of top notch quality. What I’m most excited about however, is filming a TV series with my friends in the group Trey Coastal. It’ll make you laugh, cry, vomit and hit you in the feels.

As far as the journey goes, I wouldn’t say it was easy. Starting out, I got knocked down a lot. I wasn’t a good student but I was a good worker. Swear, they’re different. I committed to going to film school at the University of Iowa. A big change from the California lifestyle I was accustomed to. I don’t feel like I picked the right program, it became increasingly apparent to me that I wasn’t learning much.

My teachers were largely filmmakers that would make films about literally nothing and call it art. My work was criticized as too mainstream and as a young adult that kind of thing messed with my head. I temporarily gave up and didn’t want to do it anymore. The itch was there but I figured I’d just hang it up because my work wasn’t coming out like my vision.

When I came back home after, I felt pretty defeated. Life hit like a ton of bricks. I’d go out for long solo nature/landscape shoots by myself to scratch the itch but didn’t think much of it. I felt like I had set out on this mission to go to film school and learn but came back with more questions than I had answers.

6 months passed and after encouragement from some friends, I decided that I’ve always had a strong love for music. Thankfully, I happened to know a few people in the scene as well and was actively discovering more. I reached out and started snapping photos.

In retrospect, that was the best thing I could have done. I was getting so much hands on experience, people were enjoying the photo work (although a lot of it was probably bad), and it kept me going. Then… The video challenge happened.

Naturally, artists were requesting music videos. I was naive and agreed. My filmmaking skills were extremely rough at the time and I was a little bit too soft spoken to direct. It was a situation that I simply wasn’t ready for at all. Photo & video are two completely different breeds of craft. Most people around me didn’t realize that but deep down I always knew it.

So I made a few music videos… That were failure after failure after failure. I simply didn’t have the skill set, I certainly didn’t have the gear or money to go get the gear. After awhile I decided to essentially continue my education on YouTube by watching every single creator’s process on making a music video.

Things started to string together. Before you know it, I was getting gigs to shoot bigger shows, do video recaps, and create work that I considered passable. It’s a never ending learning journey that I wouldn’t be on unless I failed early. The first budget I got to shoot something gave me some much-needed confidence. I started to speak up more, be firmer in what direction things needed to go, and most importantly be real with what I could do and couldn’t do.

In a nutshell, I overcame the challenges I had by hitting a dark place first. Sometimes the feeling of needing to survive, hearing negative talk, not being satisfied with the work you’re creating makes you go much harder. Plus, back home everyone expected nothing of me already. When you genuinely have nothing to lose, it makes you push yourself to the limit.

The lessons I’ve learned is being honest with yourself and not being afraid to try if it’s within reach. If you can’t do it, let it slide. The power of saying no is important. The power of setting realistic expectations is important. At the same time, if it’s challenging but doable. Don’t be afraid to make a mistake. Try to get out of your comfort zone if it’s not too far of a reach. Self reflection is important for realizing what is within what is in your abilities and what may be outside them at the moment. From there, always plan how you’re going to get better. Keep practicing. Practice often sucks because you don’t feel yourself getting better, I swear by if you do it enough times, when time comes to execute you’ll know how because you’ve trained for this moment.

Last lesson, don’t take noise seriously. Well, take it seriously, as motivation. I’ve heard it all, from friends, to family, to my art community talking negatively. Shit, being from an Indian immigrant family, I’ve heard some disturbing stuff from aunties/family friends. Perhaps most notable was an active Ohio state senator that called me “a loser that is a bad Indian.” Don’t take shit from anyone. When you stay silent and tolerate things, you’re actively telling people how they can treat you. The way to be loud and respond is always through work, not words.

In transition, regarding the question about what I would like the world to know about my story or brand. I’d say I try to capture a slice of life. A lot of the things I shoot are natural. Sometimes life is beautiful, sometimes it can be horrifying. I try to bear witness to a lot of that. My best shoots go over having conversations that are stimulating, that catches people off guard and creates a sense of candor. I’d just like people to know that we can give a voice to each other, our struggles, our happiness through using a camera. Everything I shoot is real, that’s very important to me.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Oh man. First, I hope everyone is vaccinated and ready for caloric overload. This is going to make no sense logistically but if I could teleport and skip traffic this would be my ideal day for an out of towner.

I’d start the day off with a sunrise walk through Mt. Davidson and hope to catch fog. Since summer is around the corner, good chance that marine layer might make an appearance.

Then, head back over the bridge and do brunch at Portal or Grand Lake Kitchen. I love bougie brunch places and they have a very special place in my heart.

Somehow I’d get over to the coastline on highway one after lunch and ride it all the way to Mendocino. It’s never too hot and that ocean breeze just brings a joy to your face.

For sunset, I would do none other than Trojan Point on Mt. Tam. Sometimes the fog is just right beneath the mountain that you could reach over and touch it. I’ve been lucky enough to travel in my lifetime and nowhere I’ve ever been has been close to that magical experience.

Dinner time, oh gosh. Where do I begin. Are we going greasy and fast? Tacos Sinaloa. Are we going to sit down and enjoy? Marufuku ramen.

Cocktails after? Occidental cigar club.

Nightime view? Parking garage on Vallejo street. Head straight to the roof. Enjoy a very secluded view of the city.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Everyone in my circle is important to my creative flow. Apologies if I don’t mention anyone and although I have a large circle, there are a select few I’m especially close to.

– To sndtrak : Thanks for being the annoying piece of work that you are. Jokes aside, everyone needs someone to hold you to the highest level. This dude does that for me and will never give me any fake feedback. Being real isn’t for everyone.

– To Legendvry & Reek : Y’all are for real like family I never had. Love the conversations we can have. The love y’all have shown me is unparalleled levels of encouragement. It’s unconditional. V for victory always.

– To Daniel Lint : You are the absolute GOAT of graphic design. I hope you believe that, you know I don’t give praise lightly. There isn’t a single thing you can’t do and your work has inspired many.

– To Trey Costal : We got work to do. You’re the most creative people on the planet and I look forward to our weekly syncs because screenwriting and read throughs with y’all have been special moments in my years on this planet. I have never been more excited to take on the most stressful project I’ve ever done. Just know, I’m going to yell at y’all during production so sorry in advance.

– To anyone that has ever rejected me or said I wasn’t up to standard : Thank you for keeping it real. Rejection and failure hurt bad in the moment. Sometimes I had to dissect that feedback on the drawing board and come back better. Truth is, often times I was ill-prepared. I compromised when I should have put my foot down. I didn’t plan well enough. I made mistakes. I still do. I’m just working on getting better.

Website: poplianshil.com

Instagram: @anshil.jpg