We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Viplav Pimrale a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Viplav, thank you so much for making time for us. We’ve always admired your ability to take risks and so maybe we can kick things off with a discussion around how you developed your ability to take and bear risk?
This is a great question. I used to struggle with this a lot. I was always worried about what people might think of me or what they thought of my work. I found myself comparing myself a lot with other creatives in my field who had been in the industry longer than me or were better than me (in my opinion). I even missed out on some opportunities because I was too scared to take risk.
The best advice I can give to anyone to develop your ability to take risk is to take risks lol. Being exposed to a new situation is probably the best thing that can happen to you as a creative. No matter how scary or daunting it may seem, forcing yourself to be in an unfamiliar environment allows for networking with cool people, new opportunities, relationships that will help you later on in your career, etc.
Majority of the people I work with now, are people who I had to go out of my comfort zone to meet. I am in a vastly different point in my career compared to when I first started almost a year and a half ago because of all the risks I took.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
My name is Viplav Pimrale and I am a professional Photographer & Videographer. I work mainly in the concert industry; specifically EDM. I work with DJs to capture shows and make high quality content for them.
I actually did not think I would be doing this a year and a half ago at all. I have been doing content creation for about the past 10 years as a hobby. It wasn’t until October of 2022 that I started doing this seriously. It’s a very funny story of how I got into this field of work actually. Me and my college friends from Arizona State are very into the EDM/House scene and there’s this bar next to ASU that we used to go to all the time called Sunbar that has a venue space for shows on the second floor. They always get the best EDM/House artists to play there. There was this duo (now just one guy) named Moksi playing that night and they were one of my favorite artists at the time. So, I was very excited to see them when they announced their Arizona show. Me and all my friends bought tickets in advance and had met at my place prior to walking over to the venue. The vibes were high and I was very excited.
But something had happened on the way to the show that kind of threw my mood off. I was very pouty andprepared to just go home. In hindsight, it wasn’t anything serious, but something that had flipped my night for the worse. But my friends convinced me to come out anyways. They bought me a few drinks and tried to get my mind off it before the show began. Once the show began, we made our way from the bar to upstairs space. I was having a good time and dancing my butt off with my friends. I was at the front and had a lot of energy, but for some reason the security guard thought I was being a little much so he got me kicked out. But I was determined to see Moksi, so I talked my way back into the venue with the downstairs security guard and made my way back up to the show and stood behind my friend for the rest of the show so the other security guard wouldn’t notice me. I eventually ended up getting a cool video where one of the guys from the duo grabbed my phone and recorded the crowd from his POV. Towards the end of the show, my friend Ryan wanted a similar video so I took her phone and tried to give it to the DJs. The tour manager came over and decided he could take a video for her from the stage instead. When he came back with her phone, he started talking to her and eventually they exchanged numbers. After the show, he had texted her and was trying to see if there was an after party. Seeing this as a cool opportunity to get to hang out with someone who manages one of my favorite DJs, I told her that she should just tell him to come to my place, as me and some friends were headed back there anyways to chill before everyone went home for the night.
To my surprise, when he arrived, he was with one of the DJs from the then duo. I’m not gonna lie, I was fangirling a little bit inside. I had no idea one of my favorite DJs was going to be at my apartment that night lol. So he came upstairs and me and all my friends stayed up till sunrise just hanging out with him and his manager. At some point in the conversation, the DJ, had asked what I do for a living. I was a student at the time, but I mentioned I’m also an avid photographer and videographer. He asked if he could see some of my work and he absolutely loved it. I half-jokingly said that if he ever needs someone for a show, to hit me up. His response immediately was that he was going to be playing at EDC Orlando in a few weeks and needed someone to cover media for his set. He proceeded to ask his TM if I could come and do media and he immediately agreed. We exchanged information and got the details sorted in the next week and I was off to do media for my first ever EDM show at one of the biggest festivals in the United States for one of my favorite DJs.
When I got there, I was able to meet some of the biggest names in the EDM industry and got great networking opportunities and insight into how some other creatives are successful in this industry. That one festival laid the foundation for my career and was a HUGE jump start for me. I was there for 3 days, so I decided to grow my portfolio and just photograph as many artists as I could. I leveraged the connections I made there and the media I captured to market myself and get myself more and more gigs.
But again, this all happened because I made the best of a not-so-great situation I was put into. I have my friends to thank for dragging me to that show, even when I didn’t want to go anymore. Huge shoutout to Ryan for pretty much getting my foot through the door that night. I have a ways to go in my career, but I get to do something I love with some of the coolest people in the world. Doesn’t get much better than that.
Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?
Three skills that were the most impactful for me besides taking risks, were the ability to network, consistency, and being open-minded.
One of the biggest skills I tell new creatives to learn is the art of networking. I don’t think you have to be a people person or some social butterfly to be in this field of work. I think you just need to know how to talk to people. It can be a bit daunting to reach out to an artist or their team and ask to help with media for a show, they are still people at the end of the day. Showing your eagerness to learn and humility will take you very far.
Consistency is another big one. There have been multiple instances where a tour manager will tell me they don’t need someone for a show and then when I send my follow up message closer to the show, they will say they actually do need someone because the person they hired initially can’t make it. Even in the broader aspect, sending out messages and emails to artists and not getting a reply back can be very discouraging, but it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t ever reach back out in the future.
Also be open-minded. Remember that you have certain strengths and weaknesses and getting the chance to meet fellow creatives can be a huge learning opportunity for you. You might pick up a skill or a technique that could change the way you work going forward.
Any advice for folks feeling overwhelmed?
RELAX! It’s so easy to get caught up in the flow when you’re editing. I have had days where I will get so engrossed into editing a video where I don’t even get up from my char for 10+ hours. This always has made me make some errors in my work that I have to go back and fix. It’s always good to pace yourself and work on a project and take breaks. It allows for you to feel refreshed and more times than not, I end up getting a good idea to make my video or photo better when I’m not sitting at the desk.
Another piece of advice I would give is to try new techniques or shots that you might not usually do. Think outside the box!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://supraastra.weebly.com/
- Instagram: @viplavpimrale
