Track lighting…currently the bane of my existence.

 

I'm opening a gallery. Galleries have track lighting, right? Yes. Period. Amazing artwork deserves amazing lighting. Seems pretty straightforward. Oh boy. Let the saga begin.

 

What do I know about track lighting you may ask. Nothing. I know nothing about track lighting… or any form of lighting for that matter. There's a switch. I flip it. The lights go on. I flip it again. The lights go off. So, as with many things, I start with a ChatGPT conversation. My prompt…What do I need to consider for appropriate lighting for the gallery? I figured I would keep my prompt broad and see where the conversation took me. As with most answers, ChatGPT came back with a multi-point response. I can certainly appreciate a good bullet pointed list. And so I was off and educating myself on gallery lighting.

 

One…Start with the experience you want to create. Crisp & modern, warm & intimate, dramatic/conceptual. Okay, makes sense.

 

Two…Track lighting = non-negotiable. That's what I thought!

 

Three…Color temperature. 3000K, 3500K, 4000K. Hmmmmm…not completely familiar with this but I do remember having a lighting conversation with a photographer friend of mine. (She is amazing by the way.) What did she tell me…3500K…I think. Whew. I got this.

 

Four…CRI (Color Rendering Index). What in the heck? Minimum: 90 CRI. Ideal: 95 CRI. I will go with the ideal. Easy enough.

 

Five…Light placement & angles. Geometry wasn't my strong suit. Deep breath. Golden rule: 30-degree angle from the wall. It's never a good idea to break the Golden Rule. Let's go with that.

 

Six…Layer your lighting. Huh? Ambient lighting, accent lighting, feature lighting. Not sure how to do that but okay.

 

Seven…Dimming = control = power. I like being in control. Dimming. Sign me up.

 

Eight…seriously, there's an eight? Deep breath. What is eight? Watch for these common mistakes. I'm sorry. There is nothing common about this. I'm starting to think this entire conversation is a mistake.

 

Nine…Budget-smart approach. Thank you for thinking of my wallet, ChatGPT.

 

Ten…One strategic idea for Studio SG. ChatGPT, my friend, we've know each other for a while. It's GALLERY, not Studio, SG. Also, we are on bullet point ten. TEN. I was exhausted after four.

 

That was a lot, right? I thought so too. Nonetheless, I persisted. I told it to make a layout. After a bit of targeted discussion, it give me the layout. Perfect. Thank you. We were on a roll so I asked for recommendations of what to purchase based on the criteria we had agreed on. It gave me a list. OMG…this is amazing. Off to Lowe's I go.

 

To be totally honest, I wasn't planning to buy the entire list on that first trip. My plan was to check out the track lighting section as a whole. Get the lay of the land so to speak. Look more closely at the pieces on my list. Then ponder before jumping into the deep end.

 

I get to Lowe's, find the lighting section, walk up and down the aisles looking for the track lighting. Didn't see it. Go back through one more time. Still don't see it. What am I missing? The I track lighting clearly. On my third pass through, I found the small section. Not sure what I was expecting but this clearly wasn't it. No worries. I'm new to this. Shake it off, Laura.

 

On the wall in front of me, way above eye-level, were the options. I can't even tell you everything I saw. Mostly because it was blinding and I left my sunglasses in the car. At eye-level, there were the tags to tell you what was in the bins below. Now we're getting somewhere. As the bright spots started to fade and my vision cleared up, I see the starter kit that was on my list. Success! I pull the box out to take a look. Yep, that was it. I did a little comparison to the other options in the bins. This one seemed good. It was track lighting. It was white. It was the four foot starter kit my buddy ChatGPT recommended. I wasn't sure I was ready to take the plunge and buy all four kits at that very moment. So I decided to just buy the one and have a friend who knows more about this subject than I do take a look. Once I got the stamp of approval, I would get the rest.

 

I proudly went to the self-checkout to make my purchase. As I looked around, I seemed to be surrounded by people who were confidently making their purchases as well. Look at us go, Folks. Yay, Us. I successfully checked out and walked to the car. Will this fit? Yep, we're good it's only four feet long. Hmmmmmm. Four feet. That's not very long. As I drove home, I continued to wrestle with that length in my mind. The approximate dimensions of the gallery are 24 feet by 14 feet. Did I get the right thing? Is that really what ChatGPT had on my list?

 

I pull into the garage. Find my phone. Open ChatGPT. Yep. Four of the four foot starter kits. Then a bunch of additional head lamps, some end caps, power feeds, and light bulbs. So it's not me. I followed instructions. Something seems off.

 

I get inside. Set the starter kit box on the counter. Then head back to my office to pick my track lighting conversation back up with ChatGPT. My next prompt…help me understand how track lighting works. The screen starts filling with incredibly helpful information. Now I know something's not right. My next prompt…the plan you laid out for me and the list of supplies I need to purchase doesn't seem right. The long walls in the gallery are 24 feet with 19 of that intended to display artwork. ChatGPT's response…Good catch! You are correct. We are going to need to add in some eight foot tracks as well to cover your entire space. Good catch? Good catch by the person who knows absolutely nothing about track lighting versus the artificial intelligence that has access to all the data and the exponential procession power.

 

Here's the thing. Every AI we use has some sort of disclaimer. ChatGPT's says "ChatGPT can make mistakes. Check important info." I have read numerous articles talking about AI hallucinations. I myself have told friends, family, and colleagues to trust but verify. In my head, I know that AI can be wrong. In my heart, and the relationship we had built, it never had been. Sure, I had had to rephrase questions to really get the answer I was looking for from time to time. Or had overlooked providing a few critical details here and there. But ChatGPT and I always got there. This time…it really was wrong. Wow. I had to sit with that for a minute.

 

I am happy to report ChatGPT and I have recovered from this incident. I'm not gonna lie though. It has changed the way we interact and I definitely verify the important things. I would love to say I now feel confident in my knowledge of lighting for the gallery but I don't. This is going to be a trial and error endeavor. And you know what? It's going to be okay.