I’ve worked for ATG for about a year and a half now, and I just realized that I’ve become... a “Lighting Nerd.”

It all started when I walked into a local restaurant and recognized the track lighting over the bar.  Instead of enjoying my dinner and drinks, I spent most of the time staring at the fixture and trying to figure out whether it was the Spencer pendant by LBL, or the Nest Two-Circuit T-Track Pendant by Tech Lighting.  I'm sure you can see how that would get distracting...

Then a few weeks ago I was watching TV and saw a Pantene commercial where a woman with perfect hair was sitting on a couch talking about perfect hair.  To everyone else it’s a typical hair commercial, but because I’m a Lighting Nerd, I focused on the fixture hanging in the middle of the room behind her… I got excited, pointed at my TV (mind you, no one was around at the time), and shouted out (to no one, except my dog) “Look, it’s the Ether Pendant from Eurofase!”  See the ad here.

But it didn’t end there. Last week one of the movie channels was showing the 2005 spy movie, Mr. & Mrs. Smith, and I noticed the Starburst Pendant by ET2 right there over Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt’s dining room table.  In another scene, I caught the Supernova Table Lamp by AF Lighting on a table next to the couch.  My attention was actually taken away from Brad Pitt and onto the lighting, and I kept watching in hopes that I'd see another light I could identify.

Now I can’t go anywhere without checking out fixtures.  I look at plumbing brands in my friends’ bathrooms. I examine their chandeliers, table lamps, and sconces.  I tell them how picture lights would really bring out the most of their artwork…

Yes, I’m a Lighting Nerd, but at least the first step is admitting it.