[1] He graduated high school at the then prestigious Instituto Nacional for boys, where he was classmate with Rafael Spínola - who would later become editor in chief of La Ilustración Guatemalteca and La Idea Liberal and eventually secretary of Infrastructure of president Manuel Estrada Cabrera-; Spínola described him in 1896 as a consumed artist that used to draw his classmates and teacher while in class.

By then he lived in an Arabic style residence in Guatemala City and had a constant stream of socialites that wanted a portrait; some of his best work was published on biweekly basis in the La Ilustración Guatemalteca.

[3] After a trip to Europe, his studio became "El Arte Nuevo" in the 1900s and towards the end of his life, we formed the "Valdeavellano y Bolaños" company, and worked there until his death in 1928.

For the first issue of that cultural magazine he took the first ever instant photograph made in Guatemala on 28 June 1896, a picture of president general José María Reina Barrios, on his horse observing some military drills.

[8] He travelled non-stop all across Guatemala capturing the rural landscape, the roads and the railways; he would picture colonial monuments or Maya temples in Quiriguá.