After photographing the Anyue grottoes, Cherney ventured north to the Maijishan Grottoes. There he encountered this standing statue, its form shielded behind a fine-mesh wire screen. To render the statue rather than the barrier, Cherney pressed his camera lens flush against the mesh so close that the screen itself fell out of focus, transforming its grid of wires into soft, spectral bands. These diagonal lines traverse the image like drifting shadows, overlaying the holy figure in a rhythmic dance of light and dark. The dim cave light forced high film sensitivity, introducing pronounced grain that unifies the stone surface and photographic medium into a single, textured monochrome tapestry.

This deliberate interplay of barrier and monument gives the statue an uncanny serenity. Its carved drapery and gentle countenance emerge through the veil of mesh, suggesting both protection and concealment. Cherney’s method—isolating a fragment through proximity, grain, and ink—underscores his ongoing exploration of how light, shadow, and materiality shape memory. Here, the practical act of safeguarding an ancient sculpture becomes a poetic device: the screen’s blurred lines echo natural cave shadows, and the grainy abstraction calls attention to time’s imprint on both artifice and nature. In Isolated Shadows #5, photography becomes a conduit for meditation—inviting viewers to pause between what is hidden and what is revealed, between past ruin and present remembrance.

游历安岳石窟后，秋麦北上探访了麦积山石窟。在石窟内，他遇到了这尊立佛造像，但可惜其形貌被一道细密的金属丝网遮挡。为了捕捉石雕本身，秋麦将相机镜头紧贴丝网，近到让网屏失焦，将其金属丝网格转化为柔软、幽灵般的光带。这些斜线如同游移的阴影般贯穿画面，以明暗交织的韵律舞动，覆映在佛像之上。洞窟内昏暗的光线迫使胶卷使用高感光度，从而产生了明显的颗粒感，使石雕表面与摄影媒介统一融合，形成一幅质感丰富的单色织锦。

人为的屏障与宁静古迹的相望，赋予了佛像一种超乎寻常的孤独。它雕刻的衣褶与柔和的面容透过丝网的薄纱浮现，既表现出前人后人对于石像的热忱与保护，也暗示着一种随时间流逝，基于无奈下而保持的疏离。秋麦通过调整距离以及摄影角度捕捉到此画面，由此反应了他持续探索光影的实验性摄影手法。秋麦把保护古代雕塑这一实际行为化作了一种诗意表达——模糊的铁网呼应着天然的洞窟阴影，而颗粒感的画面则让人注意到时间在人造物与自然之上留下的印记。在「萧条影#5」中，摄影成为一种冥想的媒介：它邀请观者在隐藏与显现之间、在过往的废墟与当下的回忆之间驻足沉思。