CARRIER
An object photographed through the thing that distorts it.
Object study / refraction
A bone-white cast block suspended in a tank of clear water, with a printed grid on the wall behind it. The object is the subject; the water is the lens; the grid is the only honest witness to what the lens is doing.
Nothing here is retouched into place. Every bend in the grid is a real consequence of the volume in front of it, which is exactly why the frame holds up when you stare at it.
Refraction only reads if there is something behind it worth bending.
Cloudy water, flat light. The distortion disappeared and the object turned into weather in a box.
Shot dry and glossy. Without the water it is a render of a shiny object, and every studio strip light is in it.
One frame we now use to explain what a lens actually is to anyone who thinks it is a setting.
TOUCH