When I was asked to conduct a digital photography workshop recently, my preparations consisted of creating an outline and a photo-rich Powerpoint presentation to complement the lecture. Five hours before the workshop was due to start, I wondered if the preparations were enough. The first topic was ?how to choose a photo subject? and I wondered how to introduce the concept of Miksang photography without making everyone groan. The word Miksang itself sounded so foreign and exotic that people were likely to think it?s too much for amateurs.

So, I thought I?d start with a catchy anecdote to set the tone and mood for the rest of the session. But what story to tell? I was going through my e-mail when the perfect anecdote presented itself. A reader, Efrain, sent a wonderful story about how we miss so much because we are too busy to stop and appreciate the beauty around us. An excerpt:

?A man sat at a metro station in Washington DC and started to play the violin; it was a cold January morning. He played six Bach pieces for about 45 minutes. During that time, since it was rush hour, it was calculated that thousands of people went through the station, most of them on their way to work.

?Three minutes went by and a middle-aged man noticed there was music playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried up to meet his schedule.

?A minute later, the violinist received his first dollar tip: a woman threw the money in the till and without stopping continued to walk.

?A few minutes later, someone leaned against the wall to listen to him, but the man looked at his watch and started to walk again. Clearly he was late for work.

?The one who paid the most attention was a three-year-old boy. His mother tagged him along, hurried but the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. All the parents, without exception, forced them to move on.

?In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32.

?When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition?

?One of the possible conclusions from this experience could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing the best music ever written, how many other things are we missing??

Yes, it really happened. Joshua Bell who, just two days earlier sold out a Boston concert where tickets averaged at $100, played the violin in the DC train station in January last year. The e-mail is a summary (writer of the summary unknown) of an article titled ?Pearls Before Breakfast? by Washington Post staff writer Gene Weingarten published in the Washington Post in April 2008. Later that year, ?Pearls for Breakfast? was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for feature writing.

What?s the connection with photography? Photography, just like music, has a lot to do with perception and appreciation. When the question of what is a good subject for photography arises, it goes deep into our ability to see and feel beyond what our eyes perceive. More often than not, what we see as common and ordinary in the context of our everyday lives we dismiss as not worth a second glance, much less photographing. How many times have you shooed away the moth that accidentally entered your bedroom window? How many times have you squished the insect that landed on your keyboard? How many times have you swept the fallen leaves and withered flowers in the garden without so much as a second thought?

When was the last time you looked out of your window to appreciate the sunrise? How many times have you paused for even just a few minutes to gape in awe at how the first streaks of light creep steadily until they claim the horizon? Have you even noticed that no two sunsets are ever the same?that the colors and cloud formations make each one unique?

The best photographers, as far as I am concerned, are not those who are able to manipulate the composition of their images. Neither are they the ones who are so adept at using Photoshop. The best are those who can perceive so well that they are able to capture images of unaltered reality. It?s the stuff that Miksang photography is based on. From the Miksang Web site (miksang.com):

?Miksang is a Tibetan word that translates as ?Good Eye??

?? It is vision that is inherently pure, unobstructed, unblocked, free of depression, free of aggression, free of interpretation. Free altogether. When we synchronize eye and mind, we abandon all concepts and predispositions and become completely present in the moment. The world becomes a magical display of vivid perception?

?We see something vivid and penetrating, and in that moment we can express our perception without making anything up?nothing added, nothing missing. Totally honest about what we see?straight shooting. As we allow ourselves to become more available to the things around us?, our experience and expression of day-to-day moments becomes more rich and endlessly varied?beyond what we think. One moment, one shot. Graceful Appearance.?

Right. Open your mind and see the beauty around you. And I?m not just talking about photography but about life as we live it everyday.

The author blogs at http://houseonahill.net, http://pinoycook.net and http://www.sassylawyer.com