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Portrait of a Club Photographer

Napkin Nights' Tracy Lee takes her best shot

By Xania Woodman


I'm sitting on Tracy Lee's bedroom floor, playing with a
tiny Siamese holy terror of a cat and a pen light. It's
part office, part Zen den, but Martha's got nothing on
this chick: "I sewed all that," she says, casually
gesturing toward the bedspread. And the shams, the
curtains and a mountain of accent pillows. The pattern
looks familiar; I recognize it as the same she used to
sew her own floor-length ball gown for the Las Vegas
Prom. Clearly, sleep is not a priority with this woman.
                                                           Photo by Iris Dumuk

Before taking on the town, we started the interview at her home. I entered through the
garage where she pointed out her rental car. The official Napkin Nights-mobile was
totaled in an accident, a frightful reminder of how much traveling Tracy must do for
work. I stepped gingerly over the white backdrop she uses for photo sessions and tried
not to knock over the expensive camera and lights.

Tracy Lee is the principal owner of Napkin Nights, an online photo gallery that has
become a household name among nightclub circles in Vegas, Sacramento and Phoenix.
Despite having been out till late the night before, Lee will rise early and begin
uploading the previous night's albums almost immediately. With three cities to care for,
that means she may pass an entire day at the computer before getting dressed and
doing it all over again. The site's cult-like status has people spending hours of precious
time at work scanning the pages to find images of their drunk selves waving a martini
about and trying to be as "money" as a Swingers movie poster.

Her athletic frame is bent intently over the computer; she's an avid My Spacer. Three
massive computer monitors cluster together on one work space and a laptop just waits
in the corner for the next big adventure. This is the seat of power, which she vacates
temporarily to get ready. She chooses a pink tank with "Heiress" in rhinestones, jeans,
a wide gold belt, and gold heels. I perch gingerly on her toilet seat and watch as she
bounces back and forth from her curling iron to her computer, and back to the mirror
to apply heavy Kohl eyeliner while we discuss her very short, very direct road to
success.

Tracy Lee was born in Sacramento, California, where she started high school at the age
of 12 and began college before even receiving her high-school diploma. While working
with Earthlink she taught herself web design. Her affinity for photography was
developed simultaneously but independently: "I've had a camera in my hand most of
my life." After modeling for some time, and having become something of a fixture in
Sacramento's nightlife scene, Lee got the idea to take photos inside the clubs. That was
February 12, 2002. A friend suggested they form a website and NapkinNights.com
launched February 15, only three days later. "When it came time to come up with a
name for the site, I tried to think of something that epitomized nightlife," she says "and
what does that more than the napkins you write your number on at the end of the
night?"

Lee made the move to Vegas two and a half years ago when Napkin Nights was proving
to be a profitable venture. Lee had set a goal for herself to make Napkin Nights her
only job and had already met that goal. This February, the site will celebrate its four-
year anniversary, as well as the three-year anniversary of the Vegas launch in May.
Vegas has proved to be the most profitable of her three cities but she still travels once
a month to Phoenix and to Sacramento to check in on the clubs and her staff. Right
now, between Las Vegas, Sacramento and Phoenix, Napkin Nights employs 24 women
and two men. And Lee still does all the scheduling. But she now lets her partner back in
Sacramento handle the web design. During the site's infancy, Lee was turned down by
the professor of a Flash design class for not having taken the prerequisites. "Yeah, I
kinda laugh about that now," she chuckles.

We do a purse check and head out the door. Business
cards, batteries, flash attachment, ID, T-Mobile Sidekick,
earpiece, cash, VIP cards, face powder, a voice recorder
she never uses, gum ... There are two stops on Lee's
itinerary tonight: first V Bar for Reinvented Wednesdays
and then local industry night at Lure. Her roster used to
be longer, a marathon tour of four or five venues at a
clip. Fortunately, Tracy's staff has swelled to levels that
leave her more time to be a business owner and less of
a staff photographer.
                                                              Photo by Iris Dumuk
Inside V Bar, DJ Redneck Bob--a.k.a. Tao promoter Bob
Shindelar--is behind the decks. Lee checks in with the door staff, the hostess, the
promoter, and the liquor sponsor. Breaking up the steady stream of couples and group
photos is some interplay with the DJ and a few creative shots of Johnny Love with all
five flavors of his vodka. Lee still enjoys the artistic side of photography and now
creates unique press shots for local DJs. "The colors show up richer with a flash," Tracy
says to Jessica, the first photographer she hired in Vegas. "See?" She pulls a serious-
looking piece of flash equipment from her purse and attaches it to Jessica's camera.
Together they cost $3,000. They pose for sample shots and we observe the difference.

"I see," I say, and sip thoughtfully on my passion-flavored vodka and Redbull. Tracy
Lee does not drink alcohol; she hasn't for six years now. It's either pineapple or orange
juice and 7-Up. That must be where she gets all the energy. "I feel guilty if I don't have
anything to show for my day. ... I love being productive!" Next stop, Tracy? "World
club domination."

Wrapping things up at Lure, she scrolls through her pictures. "We need more girl
shots!" We make another turn around the lounge, dodging the hailing hands from
tables that still need more attention and on the patio we find an encouraging scene.
"But if we go up to this group the guys will jump in on it." We pass and continue the
hunt. A Napkin Nights photographer moving briskly through the crowd will take an
average of 75-100 shots per club. They touch her arm and tap her shoulder to bring
her to them. They'll even go so far as to send a friend to fetch her. She also receives
many requests to be in the photos and I soon find myself a part-time photographer.

Tracy Lee knows what people are going to do before they're even in her viewfinder's
sights. Men are the most eager to make an ass of themselves, but women aren't that
much more reserved. Funny how people will wait until there's a camera pointed at
them to do--or wear--the oddest stuff. About three times per week she is asked to
remove photos from the site. This is usually because the subject has been caught in a
compromising situation with someone other than their significant other, and that
makes Lee the court photographer for crimes of passion as well as fashion.
Web: http://www.napkinnights.com/

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