If you ever wanted to know what a muse looks like, Calgary-based artist Ric Kokotovich has captured some on film.

His photograph-based series are like windows into another world–a dreamlike set of gently lush imagery, indistinct nudes in expressive, dancerly poses that share the same physical space somehow with lush, semi-translucent greenery. Water Lilies is, as the title suggests, impressionistic, sensuous, and evocative.

"They are meant to be like dreams," acknowledges Kokotovich. "You know those dreams of flying? When I get those, they aren’t just flying, but also like I’m immersed. I’m also after that feeling of immersion."

Kokotovich ‘s process is nearly as interesting as his work. Also a filmmaker, he is a self-confessed "control freak" who has long been known for his documentary photography. During some downtime several years ago, he hit on the idea of jamming a Polaroid camera to see if it would produce a double exposure, superimposing two separate images overtop one another.

"It’s the opposite of what I would normally do," he says. "Ninety-nine per cent of my life in photography has been about capturing the ‘decisive moment.’ Water Lilies is about a culmination of decisive moments. Which is the one decisive moment? But of course documentary is interpretation anyway, usually from the photographer’s point of view. No one ever knows the real story."

To make one of his images, Kokotovich works with a model ("they’re like actors–they take their cues from me and there’s a real relationship of trust") in his studio. The number of shots he can take is limited to the number of cameras he has, so the studio work is very orchestrated and considered. He gets his model shots and prevents the Polaroid from being fully processed and spat out. Then he sets his cameras aside.

"Sometimes when you’re shooting you get a feeling you’ve caught it," he adds. "I mark those cameras and use them last when I’m getting the second exposure."

Months can elapse between when he takes the staged studio shots and he finds the ideal natural settings for that final exposure. "I like to let it gestate. I’ve experienced the studio shot with the figure and am sitting on it, brooding, waiting for something that excites me for the second exposure. I mean, I hunt for it, but I still have to wait the right circumstances," he says.

Scanning the photos and blowing them up to a fairly large scale completes the work.

Kokotovich says that although he gets a sense of what he’s creating when he’s shooting, he’s often still surprised by the happy accidents that occur as the photos develop.

"There are so many variables with this," Kokotovich muses. "I’ve been a control freak forever. The randomness of the process is my attempt to get away from that. That’s part of the joy of exploration."