Guillermo P. Peñafiel Zapata was born in Lota, Chile on October 28, 1958. His parents being native Chilenos and English speaking moved to the capital city Santiago to enroll him in the International School Nido de Aguilas. After graduating in 1977, he entered the University of Concepcion to study Marine Biology for two years. he then transfered to the University of Chile in Santiago where he studied Molecular Biology.

In 1980 under a grant from the International Institute of Education, he traveled to the United states where he attended Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania. He received a Bachelor of Arts in Biology in 1983 and returned for an art minor with a concentration in Photography.

After apprenticing with Pennsylvania sculptor James Myford he moved south to Texas where he entered the graduate program at Stephen F Austin State University. He was awarded a Masters of Arts degree in 1988 and a Master of Fine Arts in Photography in 1990. He taught photography at SFA and later moved back north to teach at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point where he was an assistant professor until 1997 when he received tenure as well as promotion to the rank of Associate Professor.