Meet Benjamin Rader | Director of Photography

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

Hi Benjamin, what do you attribute your success to?
Starting my own business was the next progression in moving into the life I wanted. Early in my career, I was working for a local production company, performing some video production tasks with more and more operational tasks.

This was a platform which taught me that it would take work both on set, and in the office in order to succeed as an independent contractor. It was great to have a company teach me those skills and time management which I would need in order to start my own business.

Additionally, during my undergraduate studies at Metropolitan State University, I worked part time thanks to my teachers. They saw the passion and excitement I had for video production. Given they taught part time and worked in the industry part time, they had connections that would solidify a base I would need to make it with my own company. I didn’t realize it at that moment but I was already networking in a field that requires connections in order to make it.

I was ready to make a go at it knowing that I had the skills and more so the network of contacts to have enough work to make it with my own business.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Creative, fun, variety, that is Behind Door 7 Media. We love the video production industry and as the general saying goes, we love to tell stories.

Variety is truly a spice of life which is why we delve into all aspects of the creative process. We’ve worked with unscripted television, corporate marketing, sports documentaries and more. We script, we film, we edit. We’ve worked locally and abroad in 20+ countries.

Denver is a great place to live and work and early on it was a hard decision not to leave and go to a bigger market for television. Thankfully, I learned that a willingness to try new things and branch out into other roles would build a foothold in the Denver market.

Early on I was a leatherman (like the knife) on set. I would wrangle data cards, but also help with lighting, camera, etc. This showed others on set that I was willing to put in the effort for the good of the production. I would often leave a production with a new job with someone else I just met on set. This led to a waterfall of opportunities to expand my network in the Denver market. And through those, I met producers and directors from across the nation and abroad who then began to call me for work.

Through a willingness to not do just one thing, I’ve built a business that is strong and sustainable as I age and grow.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
El Dorado Mexican restaurant in Golden would be a given. Great food at the base of the Mesa. After dinner, you have to go walk Clear Creek and then some ice cream at Golden Sweets on Washington Ave in Golden.

Would also check out Pearl Street in Boulder. Great variety of food choices and tap houses for an afternoon outside.

We’d also visit Hop Alley in RiNo for some family style asian cuisine followed by D Bar for dessert.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
None of my success in my industry would have been, were it not for Rich Golish, at Rich Golish Productions.

Rich took all the fun, hard work, and organizational skills I had and nurtured those, giving me opportunities throughout my early career to build a network of colleagues, connections and clients. Without Rich, there would not be this great company that was started.

Website: https://www.behinddoor7.com

Instagram: @behinddoor7media

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/benjamin-rader-bd7

Other: Vimeo.com:
https://vimeo.com/bd7m

Image Credits
Benjamin Rader