# Ridiculously Photogenic Guy > Ridiculously Photogenic Guy is a 2012 image-macro meme of runner Zeddie Little, celebrated for his impossibly perfect appearance during the Cooper River Bridge Run's 10K race. Ridiculously Photogenic Guy is an advice animal and photoshop meme featuring a photo of Zeddie Little, a 25-year-old runner captured mid-stride at the 2012 Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston, South Carolina. The photo, taken by amateur photographer Will King, hit Reddit on April 3, 2012, and racked up over 40,000 upvotes within hours, spawning thousands of image macros celebrating Little's impossibly good looks during a 10K race. The meme kicked off an entire subgenre of "Ridiculously Photogenic" spinoffs applied to everyone from Syrian rebels to college football players. ## Origin On March 31, 2012, computer programmer Will King photographed runners at the annual Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston, South Carolina[3]. He uploaded nearly 100 shots to Flickr and Facebook. One of King's friends spotted a particularly photogenic runner in the batch and dubbed him "Ridiculously Photogenic Guy"[7]. On April 3, 2012, King posted the Flickr photo to Reddit's r/pics with the title "My friend calls him 'Mr Ridiculously Photogenic Guy'"[3]. The post exploded, pulling in over 40,000 upvotes. According to an interview King gave to the Charleston City Paper, the Flickr photo hit 300,000 views within an hour of posting[3]. King later explained on Good Morning America: "There's tons of people, but he was the one. He was actually just looking straight at the camera, smiling, the sun was hitting his hair as it was just blowing in the wind"[14]. The man in the photo was identified the next day as 25-year-old New York resident Zeddie Little by the Charleston City Paper[7]. Little, who goes by his middle name Watkins, had been running in his hometown race while visiting from Brooklyn[14]. - **Platform:** Flickr (source photo), Reddit (viral spread) - **Creator:** Will King (photographer), Zeddie Little (subject) - **Date:** 2012 ## Overview The meme uses a photo of Zeddie Little running the Cooper River Bridge Run, looking like he stepped off a magazine cover instead of mile five of a road race. His hair catches the sunlight, his smile is relaxed and natural, and he looks directly into the camera while surrounded by visibly struggling runners. The humor comes from pairing this effortlessly handsome mid-race photo with captions about how attractive people coast through life. Typical captions follow the advice animal format: a setup describing an ordinary or even negative situation on top, with a punchline showing how Little's good looks turn it into a win on the bottom. Examples include "Gets Arrested, Mugshot Submitted to Glamour Magazine" and "Used For Stock Photo in Picture Frames, No One Replaces It"[4]. ## How It Spread The meme moved fast. Shortly after hitting Reddit's front page, a facebomb version of the photo appeared, posted by Redditor chehov[3]. By April 4, Mashable ran a piece titled "New Meme Alert: 'Ridiculously Photogenic Guy'" featuring Little's face photoshopped alongside Tina Fey[1]. MSN covered the advice animal spinoffs the same day, and the Quickmeme page had already accumulated over 1,000 submissions[3]. Little's identity brought a second wave of attention. The Daily Mail reported on April 5 that they had spoken with Little's father, Jack, who revealed his son was in a committed five-year relationship and was trying to break into PR in New York[7]. Jack told the paper: "What's happened is crazy. I think it's phenomenal and it's been fun to watch because my son is such a hard-working and unassuming guy"[7]. Social media accounts claiming to be Zeddie Little popped up across Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr[5]. A Facebook page hit 6,890 subscribers in a single day, and a Twitter account gained over 14,000 followers[5]. But on April 8, Little's brother Grayson took to Twitter to call the accounts fake, tweeting: "@thezeddielittle is not #mrridiculouslyphotogenicguy it's a fake account! I know because #rpg is my brother"[5]. The IBTimes followed up, noting that a Tumblr account claiming to be Little was answering fan questions about everything from his favorite pancake flavor (blueberry) to whether he'd been recognized in public[6]. On April 11, 2012, Zeddie Little appeared alongside photographer Will King on Good Morning America[14]. Little explained the photo was a total accident: "I was running and waving at a friend that was on the sidelines and I just kind of turned around and guess I just caught the camera lens. And that was history"[14]. He called the experience "the most flattering way to get spread across the Internet," while noting how the internet "can be a bit vicious"[14]. He also announced he would run the New York City Marathon for the John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health[14]. By the time of Little's TV appearance, his Flickr photo had been viewed more than 1.25 million times[7]. His Facebook fan page had grown to over 31,000 subscribers, and the meme had attracted well over a million views across photo-sharing and news sites[14]. ## How to Use The standard format follows the advice animal template. Take the original photo of Zeddie Little (or use it as inspiration for a new "Ridiculously Photogenic" subject) and add text in two lines: 1. **Top text:** Describe an everyday or potentially unflattering situation 2. **Bottom text:** Show how being absurdly good-looking turns it into a positive outcome ## Cultural Impact The meme crossed into mainstream media faster than most 2012 memes. Mashable, MSN, the Daily Mail, IBTimes, and ABC News all covered it within the first week[1][7][5]. Little's Good Morning America appearance on April 11 marked one of the earlier examples of a meme subject doing a national TV interview to discuss their accidental fame[14]. The meme also showed how internet fame could be directed toward charitable causes. Little used his brief spotlight to promote the John Ritter Foundation for Aortic Health, running the NYC Marathon on their behalf[14]. The foundation works to raise awareness of thoracic aortic dissection, the condition that killed actor John Ritter in 2003[8]. The "Ridiculously Photogenic" template became a reusable format in internet culture, applied whenever someone looked impossibly good in unlikely circumstances. This pattern repeated across multiple viral moments in 2012 and 2013, making it one of the more productive meme templates of the advice animal era. ## Fun Facts - Little found out about his own meme from a friend, not from browsing the internet himself[3]. - The viral photo was taken the same day Little landed his first permanent job at a music PR company in New York[7]. - Little's father Jack runs an organization providing emergency food and clothing to people in need in South Carolina[7]. - The Quickmeme page for RPG accumulated over 1,000 caption submissions within 24 hours of the Reddit post[3]. - Little was compared to Barney Stinson from How I Met Your Mother, a character famously unable to take a bad photo[3]. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is Ridiculously Photogenic Guy? Ridiculously Photogenic Guy is an image macro meme featuring a photo of Zeddie Little looking impossibly handsome while running a 10K race in Charleston, South Carolina in 2012. The photo was paired with captions about how attractive people get special treatment[3][4]. ### Where did Ridiculously Photogenic Guy come from? The meme originated from a photo taken by Will King at the 2012 Cooper River Bridge Run on March 31. King posted it to Reddit's r/pics on April 3, where it received over 40,000 upvotes[3]. ### What does Ridiculously Photogenic Guy mean? The meme jokes about how absurdly good-looking people seem to benefit in every situation. Captions pair mundane or unflattering scenarios with outcomes that only an extremely photogenic person could pull off[1][4]. ### How do you use Ridiculously Photogenic Guy? Use the original photo (or a similar "impossibly photogenic" image) with two lines of text: the top describes a normal situation, and the bottom shows how being attractive turns it into a win[3]. ### Is Ridiculously Photogenic Guy still popular? The meme peaked in April 2012 and saw spinoffs through 2013. The original format is no longer widely used, but the "Ridiculously Photogenic [noun]" template still gets applied to new viral photos[9][10]. ### Who is Ridiculously Photogenic Guy in real life? He is Zeddie Little (who goes by his middle name, Watkins), a 25-year-old New York resident originally from Charleston, South Carolina. He was identified by the Charleston City Paper the day after the Reddit post[7][14]. ### Who took the original photo? Computer programmer and amateur photographer Will King took the photo at the Cooper River Bridge Run on March 31, 2012. One of his friends coined the "Ridiculously Photogenic Guy" nickname when he posted the photo to Flickr[3][7]. ### Did Zeddie Little appear on TV? Yes. Little appeared on Good Morning America on April 11, 2012, alongside photographer Will King. He described the photo as a "fluke" and called it "the most flattering way to get spread across the Internet"[14]. ### Was Zeddie Little single when the meme went viral? No. His father told the Daily Mail that Little was "very committed" to a girlfriend of five years. The couple had moved from Charleston to Brooklyn together[7]. ### Did Zeddie Little become a model? No. Little confirmed on Good Morning America that no modeling contract was in his future. He used his fame to raise money for the John Ritter Foundation by running the NYC Marathon[14]. ### Were the Zeddie Little social media accounts real? Their authenticity was disputed. Little's brother Grayson publicly called the Twitter account fake, tweeting that @TheZeddieLittle was "not my brother"[5]. The Tumblr account actively answered fan questions but was never officially verified[6]. ### What are the most famous Ridiculously Photogenic spinoffs? The most notable are Ridiculously Photogenic Syrian Rebel (August 2012), photographed by Khalil Hamra near Idlib[2], and Ridiculously Photogenic Running Back Cam McDaniel of Notre Dame (October 2013)[9][12]. ## References 1. [New Meme Alert: 'Ridiculously Photogenic Guy' | Mashable]() 2. [Syria, 'on the Verge of Collapse' - The Atlantic]() 3. [Meet Ridiculously Photogenic Syrian Rebel]() 4. [Ridiculously Photogenic Guy - Know Your Meme]() 5. [Keyboard Cat]() 6. ['Ridiculously Photogenic Guy' Goes Viral - ABC News]() 7. [Kaltura video solutions for superior webinars, events, hubs & more]() 8. [New Meme Alert: 'Ridiculously Photogenic Guy' | Mashable]() 9. ['Ridiculously Photogenic Guy' Zeddie Little's Brother Emerges: Grayson Little Says Twitter Account Is Fake, Posts Real New Picture | IBTimes]() 10. ['Ridiculously Photogenic Guy' Zeddie Little Extremely Flattered: Personally Answering Fans On Tumblr, Facebook; Got Any Questions? (PHOTOS) | IBTimes]() 11. ['Ridiculously Photogenic Guy' Zeddie Little becomes Internet sensation following Samantha Brick | Daily Mail Online]() 12. [John Ritter Foundation | Making a difference in aortic dissection]() 13. [BestMusic Live & METALHEAD - 4.000 events since 2004]() 14. [Ridiculously Photogenic Running Back Will Steal Your Heart]() 15. [Kaltura video solutions for superior webinars, events, hubs & more]() 16. [Ridiculously photogenic Syrian rebel goes viral | Daily Mail Online]() 17. [UPROXX – Music Television and Culture]() 18. [Deadspin | Ridiculously Photogenic Running Back Stars In Impossible Photo]() 19. [Notre Dame's Cam McDaniel Is One Ridiculously Photogenic Running Back (PHOTO) | HuffPost Sports]() 20. [Acasă | Miluță Flueraș | fotograf eveniment]() 21. [Syria, 'on the Verge of Collapse' - The Atlantic]() 22. ['Ridiculously Photogenic Guy' Explains Photo Op]() 23. [Video Content Management System | Kaltura]() 24. [Video Content Management System | Kaltura]() --- Source: https://meme.com/memes/ridiculously-photogenic-guy Published by meme.com — The Internet Meme Library