I was born in Caracas on October 29, 1989. I grew up in Maracay, in a little corner of the Henry Pittier. I spent my childhood and most of my adolescence, letting myself be carried away by the wind.
Without knowing what all this was about, I experienced infinite truths until I reached one that made sense to me. I went from studying network engineering and telecommunications to working in a sound company, and then I ended up graduating in advertising and marketing.
Thanks to my old man I got to know photography. He gave me a compact camera as a child, which gradually became my travel companion. From the compact I moved to a DSLR with an interchangeable lens (which really belonged to him), with which I learned the basics of photography.
One day, a friend offered me a job as an exclusive magazine photographer. At that very moment, a whole new world opened up for me. I had never thought until then of being able to profit from doing something I like. Even though the magazine didn’t come out later, everything started to make sense to me.
Months later, I got a diploma in digital design. In it, besides learning the programs to be able to work better my photographs and open a new world with the graphic design, I met a person, with whom in a time later, together with other friends we formed BACESTUDIO, our own creative agency.
BACESTUDIO was first created by Carlos M. Vasquez and soon after we joined forces. We started mainly supporting those who we felt we had to support. Among musicians, artists, dancers and sportsmen. The more we supported, the more we learned. And so, little by little, paid jobs with some companies began to emerge.
We worked with people like Lil supa (Lou Fresco), Akapellah, Ríal Guawankó, WilliedeVille, Gegga, YoyoDojo!, Chuchú Bermudas, La Orquesta sinfónica de Maracay, Zoavecoco, Ana Mirabal, Flores Solano, Julio Giannoni, Mandy Anselmo among other artists.
We created movements such as BACE (a proposal that seeks to support BMX in Latin America) as well as Maracay Paradise (a project that seeks to enhance the city where we lived).
Little by little we grew as a team, until we found ourselves in the need to leave Venezuela. Each one left in their own time, depending on their needs and their economy.
On April 4, 2017 was my time to leave. With an infinite fear and with the plan to get to know South America, I went to Bogotá where Mandy (my great love) was waiting for me. With two backpacks (one with clothes and the other with equipment) and a few dollars I left for the adventure. I spent approximately 02 months where fortunately I managed to connect with an independent publishing house called Rey Naranjo and in a tattoo studio where I was able to work making videos and photographs. Little by little I began to understand that you generate yourself where you want to be. That fear is only a sign that we are alive, but that behind it there is a world full of possibilities.
After two months, Mandy had her sixth month as tourist in a country that is not her own. So we moved by bus to Quito where we spent 6 more months. Here the situation was a little slower, I had to make deliveries by bike with the company that a friend had created there. Until little by little I started to work in photography, audiovisual and graphic design with tattoo studios, restaurants, stores and others. Besides this, I met a very special person, who introduced me to the world of analog photography (without me having an analog camera).
As time went by I learned that all cultures have their own beauty, their different times, that with patience and perseverance one can overcome any situation.
When the time was right, we had to move again. So we went by bus to Lima where we spent 2 months. In Lima I had the opportunity to exhibit “Ritos” (photo exhibition) in a cultural event together with Mandy’s illustrations. I was also given the opportunity to work in a tattoo studio as well as in a restaurant which served us to eat the 2 months of our stay in Lima and leave with savings. Every new place we stepped into was a new learning experience, the same situation of constant change forced us in a certain way to reinvent ourselves. The same formula does not apply everywhere. We always have to keep an open mind to take on a new challenge.
Due to personal situations, we had to move by bus to Chile, where we are still living after two years. On the one hand I have the nationality thanks to my old man who is Chilean. And Mandy found very easily to get her papers out here. In Santiago I bought my first analog camera and started taking pictures in 35mm. Something that completely changed my way of seeing photography. I started working as an art director in an advertising agency called BBK group, where I still work today.
Parallel to that, in the little time I have left, I continue like everyone else in the BACESTUDIO team, supporting people who vibrate in the same frequency as us. Sharing talents and knowledge to help us grow together.
If at some point I hated the process that Venezuela is going through, that forced us to leave, today (although I still do not share it) in a certain way I am grateful, because all these situations, these new experiences that we have been forced to live, are making us stronger. Life is not about “seeing to believe” as I always heard it when I was a kid, but rather “believing to see”.
Instagram : @ianvildosola