| Chris Cedeno |
| Chris Cedeno OR Alex with AP Moss Fotos Con Artist Photographer Los Angeles, California |
| 11th of Apr, 2011 by User660909 |
| This guy is a complete creep, who claims he is a New York professional but goes by numerous names and has one profile where he claims he is from the UK and other telling a different story. The puzzle pieces just don't fit together. If he wants to shoot with you, he'll probably approach you in some random place like a coffee shop or a store, and if he has his computer with him he will have you sit down and very slowly look at his entire (probably bogus) portfolio. And his stuff is good, and whether or not he actually shot the pictures his demeanor is so not worth even considering a shoot with him. In my opinion though, the profile is more than likely bogus, because this guy has made himself completely unsearchable on the internet. And, what "professional" has absolutely no information about their work online in this day and age. He comes across as completely innocent and appears to be a potentially good person to shoot with when you first meet him, but the tables quickly turn if you don't respond to his numerous calls, texts, AND facebook/e-mail messages. I hadn't even shot with him yet and while trying to work a meeting with him into my crazy schedule, he became incredibly impatient within minutes after speaking with him about the matter, and literally left me a 3 and a half minute message on my cell phone berating me and telling me how unprofessional I was and more, as well as leaving me multiple facebook messages at the same time. I came into work the next day and was telling a co-worker who is also a model how absolutely creeped out I was, and she said she had almost the same exact story. We did a bit of research and figured out that we were talking about the same guy, but she had actually shot with him and is currently having a lawyer handle her situation because it got so out of hand. So basically, this guy will probably read this and come up with yet another alias, but the fact of the matter is be careful and make sure that you are shooting pictures with legitimate people. And always be safe, bring a friend with you to a shoot and look for the warning signs. Just make sure you do your research before walking into any situation. You don't need people like this to make it:) |
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| I had the exact same experience! I started out open to shooting because his pictures looked great, and came to realize there was no way those were his. He had no idea what he was talking about. He also flooded me with calls, messages, facebook posts, etc, and became incredibly rude very quickly. Stay away from this guy! Serious creeper! |
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| I am a actor/Model/Producer he found me in Starbucks I liked his work I sent him some leads that are hard working prof actors/models all have came back with complaints about rude, aggressive, he is. One model wanted to reschedule and went insane, he started to call me complaining I told him that they need to take prof gigs that are paid and he felt different, he has worked under different names and can not back his references. He will ask some of his models to meet at 5 am to shoot for free! THIS GUY IS A SEROUS CREEP and should not be working in Las Angeles. Further more what prof works in LA with no car? |
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I almost fell out my chair when I stumbled across this posting while looking for info on another company/ photographer. I am a dancer/ model in New York and have known Alex (i.e. Chris) for over 5 years and have worked with him at least 7 or 8 times. I'm shocked by what I'm reading here. I mean yes... Alex is a unique individual and he is over the top with punctuality. I am a habitually late person, regardless of whether it's my fault or not, and Alex has flipped out on me several times because of this. But hey, think about it... if you had to sit there and wait forever for an appointment that you had set and because the person was late, and it threw off your schedule for the rest of your day, how would you feel? And as far as cancelling, especially last minute, or not showing up (unless of course there's an emergency, thats just plain rude and basically says "my time is more valuable than yours". Who likes that?
I have to admit that Alex's 3 minute voicemails can be totally annoying and sometimes ridiculous, but thats just Alex. When I see a voicemail from him, I usually only listen to the first 10 seconds, if that much, before calling him back and teasing him about taking 20 minutes to say 5 words in his messages.
Maybe its a different view from this side of the country, but since when does having a car make a person a proffessional. Alex (Chris) is a native New Yorker and spends a lot of time traveling back and forth across the country as well as to other countries. Why would he have a car in LA when theres a such thing called a Zip Car if he absolutely needed one?
I think you guys are missing the point here. Just because you dont like the way someone chooses to communicate and because someone doesn't broadcast his whole life on facebook and the web, that in no way makes him a "creeper." If you don't like his agressiveness, don't work with him. It's only you who will be missing out! He's a PHOTOGRAPHER! And a DAMN GOOD one at that! All you have to do is look at his pictures. And yes they are all HIS PICTURES. How do I know this? Because I've seen the images on his camera, not just his computer... Because I've met many of the models in his pictures usually right before or right after they shot. He's a maniac when it comes to shooting and will often book 3 shoots in a 24 hour period. So its hard not to have 2 models bump into each other when finishing shooting with one and going immediately to shoot with the next. And the biggest reason I know they are his images is because I have proof of many amazing images of myself taken by Alex. He's just got the eye for capturing incredible pictures and isn't that what you would want to get out of him anyway... Amazing images? Last I checked, having people call you different names isn't illegal and doesn't classify a creep. Alex's legal name actually has 6 names to it, thanks to his parents. I didn't learn this about him until years after I first met him. He's a private person and thats his right. His images should be enough proof of his ability and talent and who cares if his name is Joe Shmo. Like he's the only person in the business who goes by an alias, right? Come' on and give me a break. Even his quirky personality, which is harmless, grows on you over time.
And the last thing I'm gonna comment on is the shooting at 5am thing. I am one of those people who has actually met Alex in a Starbucks at 5:30am (yes it was supposed to be 5am but of course I was late :-) to shoot. Meeting that early gives you time to get to the location, get set up and ready, and begin shooting in perfect time for sunrise, which is an amazing light to shoot in! Or if your're shooting artistic nudes, its the best time because few people are out on the streets at that time. Not to mention that if you shoot for 4-5 hours and he's got 3 shoots booked in a day, if he didn't start that early, he'd run out of daylight and lose decent light for shooting.
Alex/ Chris (Billy, Bob, Steve, Joe) or whatever else you want to call him may not conform to whats considered "normal business practices" for some people, but he is legit and so are his images. Despite being a little rough around the edges, he is a great guy, an AMAZING photographer, and a fun person to work with! I am never disappointed with the results I get from shooting with Alex and would recommend him to any model, dancer, actor who wants incredible pictures!! |
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i completely agree with tinydancer3 (above). I worked with Chris in Santa Monica a couple months back, and had the most fantastic shoot ever. We shot at numerous locations around santa monica, including malibu, and the images he captured were UNBELIEVABLE. I never knew I could look like that until I saw the images on his camera, right there, black and white...ME.
Unless you have worked with someone from the east coast, or know someone from back east, Chris will come off as very forward and abrupt. Having family born and raised in New York myself, I totally get the east coast attitude, composure and work ethic. It's just different, and takes some getting used to.
Don't berate someone publicly simply because you are not used to their style. Keep it to yourself, and move on. Simply chose not to work with him again. Easy as that. |
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I have shot with Chris twice and haven't had a problem with him personally. I read the comment above and completely agree with everything TinyDancer3 says.
Sure, Chris has some quirks to his personality but so do many in this field. The bottom line is that I got some really nice shots from our first shoot and am waiting to see the results of our second shoot.
I think the complaints seem to be more about how he conducts his business and presents himself rather than about the quality of his work.
Not everyone is going to get along and work well together. That's just the way things can be with creative types but I can definitely say that the images that I have seen so far from Chris have been really good quality and we had a lot of fun shooting together.
I'm sorry to hear that others have not had the same experience but I can only speak from mine and say that I would shoot with him again and plan on it when I return to LA!! |
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| This has made my day. I wish all potisgns were this good. |
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Tinydancer3 is obviously Chris Cedeno pretending to be somebody else. Who else would take so much time writing an incessantly rambling rationalization for this crazy dude's outrageous behavior?
Nice try, Chris/Alex/Billy/Bob/Steve/Joe. |
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| I have also unfortunately encountered Alexander or Alex a year ago and he made me completely uncomfortable that the MUA/Hairstylist and I left the shoot after he kept persuading us to have him go to our car to drive to his "studio" instead of doing an on location shoot on the beach that was originally planned. I got a very bad vibe from him as well as the MUA/Hairstylist and told him no we don't need to go to our car when the beach is across the street. He seemed very annoyed that we where not naive. When we left without him knowing he blew up my phone saying a bunch of crazy things and honestly made me fearful enough to talk to a friend of mines parent who is an officer, they told me that if he continued to call for the next day or two action would be made, no more calls where made after I informed him of the actions I would take if he didn't stop. Then a few days ago a year later he contacted me once again acting as a different Photographer now by the name Chris CQC Photography. He was insisting on talking to me on the phone and then meeting with him once more and the scary thing about this whole situation is the whole time he knew he was talking to me and I didn't put two and two together that Alex/Chris where the same person in tell now. Why would a professional photographer want to meet up a year later with a model that just left the shoot, seems like he is up to more then just supposedly taking pictures. I honestly fear for the safety of any one that has to deal with him. Anyone reading this Please do yourself a favor and stay far far away from this person I have spoken to other models who have had stories like mine and it makes me sick. This kind of reminds me of the story about the model Linda Sobek who shot and eventually gained trust in the photographer Charlie Rathbun who ended up murdering her.There are lots of wolves in sheeps clothing even if some models really did shoot with guy who's to say he isn't just trying to gain there trust. There"s an obvious Mental illness here that cant be ignored and it can potentially be dangerous. |
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