We recently hired Celestus Studio for a photoshoot and were very disappointed by the lack of professionalism and skill, as well as their unethical business practices. This was surprising because we had read so many good reviews.
On the day of our shoot, it quickly became obvious to us that our photographer, Alejandro, was not prepared and did not have the assertiveness or skill to direct our shoot. He did not position us for group shots or cue us. He lacked initiative and sat down a few times acting like he was tired as we tried to arrange ourselves. We constantly asked for feedback from him, to no avail. One of the members of our group had to step up to help direct since Alejandro provided no direction. The shots that Alejandro showed us on his camera were not well-composed and the lighting was often so harsh that half of our faces were obscured by white light - this was not an issue of divergence in artist preference, the photos were objectively bad because people were blocked / blurry / overly lit. We were visibly dissatisfied and expressed this during the shoot.
We were also expecting both Alejandro and Romina at our shoot as Celestus' website advertises a photographer duo (please see attached website print-screens). Members of our group had to hold Alejandro's lighting equipment for him since he did not have anybody to assist. We couldn't get whole group shots once it got dark since one of us always had to hold the lighting equipment. Our contract with Celestus does not state that we will be provided with two photographers, but it does include a provision that "Client has reviewed Photographer's previous work and portfolio and has a reasonable expectation that Photographer will perform the Services in a similar style." Based on Celestus' past work, website, reviews, and the fact that two photographers were provided to clients with groups of a similar size in the past, we think it was a reasonable expectation for us to have two photographers.
After our shoot, we expressed our feedback and requested a 25% discount on our total fee. Alejandro agreed to this and acknowledged his shortcomings during the shoot in writing, but then later refused to honor the discount. He applied the discount to our remaining balance (we had already paid more than half) but refused to honor the discount on the total fee, as promised. Please see attached print-screens of our email exchange. Our original package was for 200+ unedited photos and 10 edited photos. We said we were willing to receive 200 photos (not 200+) and to forfeit the 10 edited photos for Alejandro to apply the discount. He refused. Alejandro tried to shift the blame, including by saying there were "challenging conditions" due to "interference from mosquitos" during the shoot. We then asked for a gallery of watermarked photos with the right to download just 50 photos if he would honor the discount. He still refused. Finally, we asked for the gallery of watermarked proofs and if we liked even one photo, we would pay the remaining balance without the 25% discount on the total fee. He simply stopped responding to us.
We didn't want to feel like we completely wasted our time, so we paid the final balance and received the photos, which were as disappointing as we expected, but gave us a good laugh due to how bad they were. None were worth posting on social media. The worst part of all this is that one of the members of my group posted an honest review of our experience on Google and Celestus replied with lies, saying that we asked for 1200+ photos (we never did) and implying that my friend was the one lying. Alejandro and our group may have differences in opinion on the quality of services provided, but there are facts with respect to what was said in writing. I'm attaching relevant print-screens of our correspondence and of Alejandro's response to my friend's review (in case he attempts to edit his response to recant his lie) to show Celestus' unethical business practices. Do not book this studio. read more