Recently, I had the opportunity to photograph Lauren Kyle McDavid, an Edmonton entrepreneur, interior designer and creative director who has built an impressive collection of businesses around her passion for design.
More Than Just a Familiar Name
Many people recognize Lauren as the wife of Edmonton Oilers captain Connor McDavid; honestly, for me, that’s so blasé. Lauren is her own person, plain and simple.
I had photographed Connor the week before, so I was looking forward to meeting and shooting Lauren, kind of a funny full circle.
Lauren is the founder and principal designer of Kyle & Co Design, an Edmonton-based interior design studio specializing in luxury residential, commercial and hospitality spaces. Her growing portfolio also includes Trove Living, a curated furniture and home furnishings business, Bar Trove, and Sports Club Atelier, a fashion-forward sportswear brand.
She's also added cookbook author to her list of accomplishments. The Atelier Table is a beautifully designed book that combines recipes, entertaining, and her appreciation for creating memorable experiences around food.
It's as much a design piece as a cookbook, and Tomato Magazine was going to feature it, with yours truly photographing the story.
Really? She's still available?? Let me check my schedule??
Experience has taught me that booking entrepreneurs far in advance is always dangerous. Their schedules notoriously change, and let's face it, a Curtis Comeau photo shoot hardly takes precedence over whatever else might pop up.
So, when the shoot was booked seven months out, I pencilled in the date with the lightest of pencils. I'm talking invisible ink kind of pencil.
To my surprise, about a week before the shoot, Lauren's team emailed to confirm the location.
Well, I'll be damned... This was happening.
I ended up suggesting we shoot Lauren at her Kyle & Co Design office in Edmonton, which apparently had a kitchen setup.
She's an interior designer, so I figured, hey, it's probably nice.
Spoiler alert. It was.
The Editorial Concept
Since Tomato Magazine focuses on food, the story was really about the food and how it's made.
Lauren was obviously an important part of the story, but editor Mary really wanted photographs of Lauren preparing recipes from her cookbook. Three recipes and a cocktail.
I wanted the images to feel natural, relaxed and a little playful. Not overly styled or staged.
Photographing Lauren at Her Edmonton Office
As a photographer, I always appreciate working in spaces that have character, and Lauren's office certainly delivered.
When your subject is an interior designer, the surroundings become an important part of the story.
I showed up solo. No assistant, no big production, no hoopla. I wanted a relaxed shoot where we could just work through the recipes and have some fun.
The editor, Mary and Laure,n already had the food prepped, which was fantastic, and pretty much let me dictate the shots.
I simplified my lighting setup to one light, because I wanted everything to feel like a real kitchen. Sometimes too much lighting can make a scene feel artificial, and that wasn't what I was after.
My goal was to make it look like Lauren was doing what she naturally does, not participating in some elaborate photography production.
A Team Player
One thing that really stood out to me about Lauren was how genuinely kind she was.
As she prepared each recipe, she insisted on doing the dishes herself and didn't want anyone helping.
I actually had to tell her no.
Not because I have some deep passion for washing dishes, but because I didn't want her getting her clothes dirty before we finished photographing everything.
So I ended up taking over some of the cleanup duties.
She clearly didn't want to inconvenience anyone, including her own staff.
As she finished and photographed each dish, she offered the food to her staff, making sure everyone had something to eat.
She also sent out a coffee order for all of us. Another small but thoughtful gesture.
These things might seem insignificant, but they tell you a lot about someone.
Lauren was also game to try a few things outside the usual cookbook photography poses.
Food should be fun, right?
At one point, I wanted her to pour cake batter almost like someone pouring a cocktail. A little dramatic, a little playful, and definitely not how you'd normally pour batter.
Some subjects would have looked at me and said, "Fuck no. We don't pour batter like that." I think Mary was over my shoulder thinking that.
But Lauren was totally game.
She gave me everything I needed and, frankly, more time than I would have expected.
One More Shot
Kyle & Co Design is located above Bar Trove, and I knew from a previous visit that the restaurant had this incredibly cool suede booth downstairs.
I really wanted to photograph Lauren sitting in it.
I just thought it would look fantastic.
Did it fit the Tomato Magazine food story?
Not really.
But it was a hell of a location, and we had a little time left.
I mentioned the idea to Lauren, and she was completely cool with it.
So I headed downstairs, quickly set up the lighting and photographed the portrait I had been thinking about.
I'm really happy with how it turned out.
Unfortunately, the booth photograph didn't make the final cut for Tomato Magazine.
It happens.
That's editorial photography. Sometimes the images you really like don't make it into the published story. Editors have a story to tell, and not every photograph fits that narrative.
But I'm glad I took a few extra minutes to make it happen.
It's one of my favourite photographs from the entire shoot.
The People Behind Edmonton Businesses
One of the things I continue to enjoy most about being a commercial and editorial photographer in Edmonton is meeting the people behind the businesses.
After more than 25 years photographing executives, entrepreneurs, celebrities and business owners, I've learned that the most interesting part of any assignment is often the person standing in front of my camera.
Lauren is clearly an ambitious and talented entrepreneur, but what impressed me most was how approachable, accommodating and thoughtful she was throughout the shoot.
No entourage. No drama. No hoopla.
Just someone who was genuinely pleasant to work with.
Edmonton has no shortage of creative people building businesses that reach well beyond Alberta.
Lauren is certainly one of them.
And as for that extra portrait downstairs at Bar Trove?
Sometimes you just have to trust your instincts, take the shot, and share it on the blog if it doesn’t make the editorial cut.
Curtis Comeau Photography | Edmonton Commercial, Corporate & Editorial Photographer
