Meet Ben Busch

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ben Busch.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Ben. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started back in high school in Rochester New York, just photographing for class and filming skate films with my friends. Photography really set in as something that I wanted to do when my teacher Mr. Elling wanted me to enter some of my photos into local competitions. I remember winning my first award and thinking, “wow people actually like my stuff”. So I started looking at my work as more of a path over a hobby. After high school, I went to Savannah College of Art and Design for a major in film & television and a minor in photography. I chose SCAD because I’m not much of a classroom setting learner, I like to learn hands on and be able to fuck up a bit. The best way to learn is to learn on the job. In college, I got to work with some of the best people who are now great friends, all doing their own work in the industry. I also was blessed to be able to learn from some awesome professors who were all industry professionals at one point.

Once I graduated in 2018, I decided to book it across the country to LA and start my career. Not knowing many people out here was tough both personally and with work but that didn’t last long. I remember sending out an email to Ride or Cry, a multi-media company, these are the people who also run the best live show ever…Emo Nite. It’s funny, the email I sent to them said, “You guys make cool shit, I want to make cool shit. Here’s my reel” and I’ve been working with them ever since. This company, especially my man Morgan Freed, helped open up so many doors for my career. From filming and photographing live shows to music videos, short films, working on indie features and getting to meet/work with some of the coolest people on earth. It’s funny how life just snowballs like that. With COVID, things have slowed down but I’m excited to see what 2021 has coming up.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Starting off it was a bit of a struggle to get my career off the ground, but it’s all about the hustle! I just took that time to meet people, shoot free photos, contact concert halls for photo passes (unpaid). In the end, the hustle works. Now there’s a fine line between being persistent and being annoying when contacting people. I’ve made the latter mistake a few times but in the back of my head, I just had this drive and need to make my dream come to life. I still haven’t lost that. Now it’s never going to be a smooth road. There’s always roadblocks and competition. I look back at when I first moved out here and how little work there was for someone who knew nobody. I’m just glad that I’m in the position I’m in now.

We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
My work is in Filmmaking and Photography. I shoot anything from music videos, fashion, commercial, portraits. I pride myself on the idea that I can do it all if given the task. Right now, people know me as the guy with the crazy camera set up from Emo Nite Haha. I would say I’m known for music videos and portrait photography the most. As far as what I am most proud of, I would say the five music videos me and my good friend Dillon Slack did for The Rocket Summer last year or my first music video through Hopeless Records for Vaines titled ‘Summer’s Over”. Those projects were so much fun to work on and were some of the first chances I had to show some of my styles. I would say some of the things that set me apart would be that I pull from some weird influences when creating my work, these have really shaped my style. I would also say my creative problem solving, the fact that I am able to work with such small budgets and timeframes allows for that creativity to really show.

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
Wow, there are a lot of people! First off my Mom and Dad, they are the biggest supporters of what I do. I don’t think I could ever thank them enough. Love you guys.

Morgan Freed, T.J. Petracca, Babs Szabo, Jacob Cooper, Ricky Fernandez, Stephania Santana, Caroline Bringenberg, Andrew Shuta and everyone in the Ride or Cry/Emo Nite community.

Dillon Slack both for being an awesome director and an inspiring friend.

Liam Cowan for photographing the streets of Rochester with me. Love you man.

Freddy, Angel, Ben and John in Gravesend. I can’t wait for shows to open up so I can finally see you guys live!

I would also like to thank Kevin Coffey for making my headshot look so good. Also, an amazing photographer to look out for.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://vimeo.com/benjaminbusch
• Phone: 5854692542
• Email: [email protected]

Image Credit:
All photos taken by Ben Busch

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