--- description: The photographer behind the viral "guy looking back" meme didn't even know what a meme was, he shared in a new comment. title: Here's the Backstory of That Viral 'Guy Looking Back' Meme image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1dfa5022a93d660e/6988db95196cf461aa041ae1/gettyimages-493656728.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Guy Behind the Latest Big Meme You Saw Everywhere: 'I Didn’t Even Know What a Meme Is' ## Video: Why Do People Always Look So Serious in Old Photos? [Watch (HLS stream): Why Do People Always Look So Serious in Old Photos?](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/mjNaDSHz.m3u8) (1:02)  _Published 2016-11-29. The first photographs were taken in the late 1820s, and the new medium developed throughout the rest of the century as a practical tool, artistic form and social activity._  by [Raisa Bruner](/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 28, 2017 9:00 PM CUT  Disloyal man walking with his girlfriend and looking amazed at another seductive girl Disloyal man walking with his girlfriend and looking amazed at another seductive girlAntonioGuillem—iStockphoto/Getty Images  by [Raisa Bruner](/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Aug 28, 2017 9:00 PM CUT After a stock photo of three people entangled in a romantic triangle [became a viral sensation](https://twitter.com/i/moments/901044973881217024 "undefined"), the photographer behind the image is speaking out about the roots of the picture, the models involved and how he’s handling this whole internet fame thing. “My models and I work really hard and we make a living out of our work, so the meme situation is just an anecdote that can be curious,” Spanish photographer Antonio Guillem wrote [in an extensive comment to _New York’s_ Select All](http://nymag.com/selectall/2017/08/antonio-guillem-the-photographer-behind-guy-looking-back-meme.html?utm%5Fcampaign=nym&utm%5Fsource=tw&utm%5Fmedium=s1 "undefined"). Since he says he has worked for half a decade in the stock photo industry and sells 1,600 photos daily, this one was only a blip on his radar. “I never thought that one of my images will be that popular. I didn’t even know what a meme is until recently, when the models started to tell me,” he continued. He also explained that the models are close to him: “I care about them as they were my kids,” he said of two of them. (The internet discovered that the three are in many of his shots, [leading to funny takes](https://twitter.com/oranforest/status/900923334799622144 "undefined") on the rest of the photo shoot’s narrative.) As for the back story on the photo shoot that has now become iconic? They were in Catalonia, Spain in mid-2015, he said, playing around with the “infidelity” concept. Everything was improvised, but it was “challenging” to get the facial expressions just right — since the group had difficulty keeping straight faces. Intriguingly, this is not Guillem’s best-selling photo, nor is it making him a ton of money. Most of the memes of the image are pirated online spoofs, so Guillem is not getting much in the way of a copyright kickback. But he’s not too bothered by it, except, he says, in instances where the new take is decisively derogatory. See below for two iterations. > [](https://twitter.com/DoctorZachJones/status/900346924766609408) > [](https://twitter.com/oranforest/status/900923334799622144) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4919007/love-triangle-meme-interview/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4919007/love-triangle-meme-interview/"},"headline":"Guy Behind the Latest Big Meme You Saw Everywhere: 'I Didn’t Even Know What a Meme Is'","datePublished":"2017-08-28T21:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:46:53.155Z","description":"The photographer behind the viral \"guy looking back\" meme didn't even know what a meme was, he shared in a new comment.","url":"https://time.com/4919007/love-triangle-meme-interview/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","photography","memes"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1dfa5022a93d660e/6988db95196cf461aa041ae1/gettyimages-493656728.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Raisa Bruner","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1dfa5022a93d660e/6988db95196cf461aa041ae1/gettyimages-493656728.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"gettyimages-493656728","caption":"Disloyal man with his girlfriend looking at another girl","creditText":"AntonioGuillem—iStockphoto/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4919007/love-triangle-meme-interview/","name":"Guy Behind the Latest Big Meme You Saw Everywhere: 'I Didn’t Even Know What a Meme Is'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Why Do People Always Look So Serious in Old Photos?","description":"The first photographs were taken in the late 1820s, and the new medium developed throughout the rest of the century as a practical tool, artistic form and social activity.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/mjNaDSHz/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-11-29T20:49:37.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/mjNaDSHz.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4919007/love-triangle-meme-interview/","duration":"PT1M2S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4919007/love-triangle-meme-interview/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```