It’s been three years since Steve Jobs passed away. I never imagined the impact he’d have on my life–in death at least as much as in life. I’ve read the books, I’ve seen the movie, I’ve loved the Pixar films, and I’ve bought most of the devices. However, on the day of his death I started clicking the shutter on pictures in the same style as his iconic portrait, and, surprisingly, it’s changed my life.

Well, for this anniversary I wanted to do something new with the pictures. I’ve made over 700 of them so far–all these people showing respect for Jobs–and thought a video presentation with music would be appropriate. I went to SongFreedom.com and used their Sonic Search to find the right song. I knew that Steve Jobs was a fan of Bob Dylan, so I typed “Bob Dylan” into the search bar and got a terrific selection of music. Dylan isn’t licensed there, so the search gave me a lot of acoustically similar songs with powerful lyrics. I think it’s really cool that I can search for any song or artist and get a whole list of songs from that artist or similar songs.

I chose this rendition of Auld Lang Syne by Allie Moss. This is a song often sung at funerals and is associated with fond farewells; I think that’s a good fit for Steve Jobs. The music you choose to present with your images sets the mood for the whole presentation. For several years I’ve been using SongFreedom.com for music with photographs. I like SongFreedom because they have popular music and well made indy music, plus a ton of excellent scores and classical stuff. When I use a popular song with my pictures, I hope my audience will think of my pictures again the next time they hear the song–that’s the power of tying music with imagery. Maybe you’ll recall some of these images next time you hear Auld Lang Syne.

I could have made this slideshow with a lot of different apps on the computer, but ProShow Web made it really simple. You just upload the pictures and music and choose from their terrific templates, and I’d recommend their service to you.