That's a Quote!

In the current issue of Sports Illustrated there is an article by their long time photographer Walter Iooss Jr. He talks about his background and his experiences with formal photograph sessions with athletes and photographing at games. I was just kind of skimming it, and then there was this bit, a remembering of a conversation he had with the great Yankee reliever Mariano Rivera:

Then one time I asked him [Rivera], "Who taught you that cutter?"

He said, "God."

I said, "God did?" Being an atheist, I said, "God never taught me anything."

Mariano said, "Oh, yes, he did, Walter." He was very calm. He said, "He gave you your great talent. You should be thankful."

That humbled me. The truth is, I see photos everywhere. I look at someone sitting next to me at lunch, and instantly I'm putting up a background in my mind. That's just churning all the time. If the beauty's there, I want to take a picture of it. I could be anywhere. I take hundreds of iPhone photos, and I compose those too, as much as I can. What I really am is lucky to be doing what I do.

I am glad to know there is at least one other nutjob out there who is composing photos in their head all the time, and takes pictures of stuff with their iPhone. He is lucky he gets to do it for a living.