Yea, I'm a photo nerd; guilty as charged. I have a closet full of camera gear; a darkroom with 2 enlargers, and a passel of homemade pinhole and large format cameras, and even a homemade tripod.
I mostly do it for myself, I'm convinced now. When I kick the bucket, I'm certain all my stuff is going to the landfill.
Now, even though the terms "nerd" and "geek" are certainly parts of our popular culture and lexicon, I disagree with the validity of their usage. I think they are applied to people out of sheer ignorance, like the "n" word was/is applied to people of African American heritage.
I wonder how successful we'll be (especially here in the States) in getting more students interested in math and science, hopefully ending up with good careers in science and engineering, when we continue to devalue the focus on technical education by continuing to use these pejorative terms like "nerd" and "geek".
Meanwhile, we'll continue to place a greater focus within media on the urban gang/drug culture, and overpaid sports figures, and mass merchandising these negative stereotypes as popular heroes to our kids.
I do, however, like Intel's recent advertising campaign where they elevate the role of tech geek into a kind of cultural hero. Definitely a step in the right direction, even if it's for crass commercial purposes.
~Joe