Guess what!? John started something really cool today, and that’s what this whole post is about. But it’s kind of a long post, so hang in there with me for the whole story, especially if you are a photographer.

My hubby John is such a great behind the scenes supporter of my business. He has got his own business going (Fort Wayne readers, have you heard him on TV yet?) But he’s still working hard wearing lots of hats being my accountant, tax guy and of course he’s my personal composer, writing the music for my client slideshows.

Here’s one to listen to while you read the rest of this post:

For a long time I used music out of my itunes library, without the permission or payment of the artists who wrote that music. It took me a while to let go of the crutch I enjoyed of having my images backed up with the familiarity that popular music gives. Now, with the help of John, my images are the star of my shows, with the timing of them to the beat giving added dynamics and feeling. It took me a while to feel like my work was strong enough to stand on it’s own. I kept thinking, “But my clients will like the photos so much better if there is a Jack Johnson song pulling at their heartstrings at the same time!” I’m not saying everybody feels that way, but I know I did. Once I got past thinking my clients needed that added emotional nudge to really enjoy the photos I was sharing with them, I felt really good about posting them with original music.

I’m not perfect, I still like to create videos of my family set to music found in my itunes library. I will say though, that quite often they get pulled from YouTube because the music isn’t licensed for me. (Or they will just mute the sound of your video, which has happened to me too.)

Because John has been competing with my itunes library, he had to work really hard to please me. The poor guy has been sent back to the drawing board many times until I felt he got it jusssst right. My largest group of clients are seniors. Um, do you know how PICKY high school kids are? So if I wasn’t using the latest song for their shows, it HAD to be good. (Can I just say, using John’s music SOOOO takes the pressure off trying to figure out what music they WILL love!!) Since I use David Jay’s Showit Web slideshow software, I can customize the slides to fit the music anyway I want. So every time John wrote a song for me, he also created a custom timing template for dynamic timing of my images in time to the beat of the music (with a few dramatic white and black flashes added in) so I could use it over and over again without having to tweak. It has saved me soooo much time! Thank you John!!!!

John has gotten a great response from our clients and other photographers, so he decided to make his music, along with custom timing templates for Showit Web available to photographers and anyone needing music for their website. Plus, you can be assured that you are totally legit in using it for your work as it’s licensed for you to use over and over. (That’s why it cost more than $1.99.) Oh, and if you are a Showit Web user, there are two timing templates per song, so it will save you a TON of time, something photographers seem to always be running short on.

Check it all out at: HIS SITE.

Also, he blogged about his process of creating this part of his business HERE.

Oh, and of course there’s a coupon code to buy it on sale. (Like we wouldn’t hook you up!) For 20% off, use the code “MettaAudio” when you check out. You can use it on the bundle of all five songs with ten timing templates as well, which is exactly what I have and have been using all summer.

Does this feel like an infomercial yet? If not, well, here’s his TOLL FREE Website, ONE MORE TIME. 😉

Here’s a little guided tour of his contact page, Betsy style:

You’ll notice some familiar faces in the slideshow samples on his website too, of course. We used names such as “The Popular Girl, The Girl Next Door and The Artsy Girl, etc.” to label the songs. Those titles pretty much sum up ALL of the girls who I photograph. They are all that wholesome “Girl next door” type, are insanely popular and have an artsy side. So to my past seniors showcased in my slideshows, please know, the titles were named for the songs, not to pigeon hole you!! 😉 Of course, the one song we did where I needed a more masculine song we labeled it the “Dude Shoot.” So to Evan, the one guy I photographed this year, you got labeled a “Dude.” (I LOVE his slideshow music! It would be GREAT for an engagement shoot.) I just figured it would be more fun to label the songs that way instead of something cheesy like, “Babbling Stream”, “Mountain Whispers” or some other name you usually find in licensed music that sounds more like an aromatherapy candle than cool music.

Thanks for checking out John’s site and I hope to stumble upon John’s music on some of my fellow photographer’s sites soon!!