Brittany Lutz, a producer from StudioNow, approached St. Louis-based Pratt + Kreidich to photograph a campaign for Lowe’s Media. Don Collins, the subject of the shoot, actively donates every penny of every paycheck he earns from Lowe’s to cancer research and veterans organizations.
Lowe’s history of hiring retired veterans stems from the company’s core values and ability to recognize a veteran’s leadership experience. Every so often one of their 13,000 veterans and members of the U.S Guard and Reserve embodies what it means to give back in incredible ways. Lowe’s employee, Colonel Don Collins’ commitment to his country and customers has transformed his 32-year United States Army career into a retired retail inspiration.
Don grew up beating prostate cancer at the young age of 16. He was also there for his wife when at 28, he battled breast cancer. Naturally, veteran and cancer research organizations are close to the couple’s hearts. Now for almost six years, Dan, a 75-year-old veteran has spent his weekends working aisles of Lowe’s store 731, in Chesterfield, Mo.
For the assignment, the duo was completely free to photograph Don in any way they felt showed his personality and charitable interests. Since Kelly and Ian booked this shoot at the last minute, they had little time for pre-production.
It was a challenge for Kelly and Ian to be working in an open store location with limited shooting time.
We had to keep our equipment to a minimum to avoid taking over any section of the store. We ended up using employees to pose as customers interacting with Don to save time and make signing releases easier.
Lowe’s Corporate Communications expressed great satisfaction with the captured images and enjoyed getting to know Don during the shoot. Although there are no future plans yet for this project, Lowe’s published the images on their social media. The full story also appeared on Lowe’s Newsroom.
See more of Pratt + Kreidich’s work on their website.
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