Initiative Makes Woman 'Picture Perfect'

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - If you can't find what you need, sometimes you just have to make it yourself. And if you do that, you may wind up with something marketable. As FOX13's Tom Dees reports, for one South Memphis artist, that is exactly what has happened.

The pictures you are looking at were taken by South Memphis' Tracy Clinton. Tracy was looking for pictures of Memphis, and couldn't find what she wanted. So, she took her own.

"I was looking for a certain type of picture of Memphis to decorate my apartment; I could only find neon lights and thing like that featuring Beale Street."

Tracy is by trade a counselor and a business woman, but you can add photographer to the list. At the urging of friends, she's entered photographs in several art shows lately, including the River Arts Festival and the South Main Trolley Night. They have sold, and sold well.

"I just wanted to find the beauty of Memphis, you know, in the secret little hidden parts, I tried to capture that."

Tracy's lesson for others: if you can't find what you want, create it. If you like it, there may be a chance that someone else might as well.

"I did not expect all the responses that I got, I knew I liked the pictures, but I had no idea everyone else would be so supportive and excited about them… I was amazed that people really liked the art, I had the response, 'you made Memphis look great, we should see more of that about Memphis.'"

The other lesson: don't be afraid to ask for an opening. Tracy wanted to show her pictures on South Main, so she had the fortitude to ask for a space to show them.

"I had the idea that I wanted to do an art show, and I wanted to do the South Main Trolley Night back in September. I just wanted to talk to some artists and see how they hosted a show, and I came to this place and asked if I could show my art in this particular place. It was a very low cost, and I said 'I can do this!'"

She's had two shows, and will be having a third coming up in Collierville later this month, all because of an attitude that says "I can do this."