@SolarSands the fact that this eerie winter feeling was the majority of my childhood in alaska meant when i moved to Texas, i got depressed. The cold and bleak is weirdly comforting , maybe due to lack of stimulation. It's like the cold calls for you to fall into it.
I can't express how much I'm thankful for this content. The idea of a world shrouded in eternal winter is... always so interesting to me. I even wanted to put it in my novel as a setting but I lack the knowledge on the season since I live in a tropical part of the planet. The way you describe it helps me so much to understand it, thank you...
I love the silence of snow, it makes me feel so far from the loud city. The way the snow disconnects a person from the disturbances that surrounds them is oddly calming.
Winter is when everything (apart from us) is quiet. The word you’re looking for is stillness, where your troubles can’t worm their way into your thoughts and you are only at the present moment.
the first winter after i got tinnitus was heartbreaking, i still remember the moment i realized i will never feel that calm comforting muffling of sounds a completely snow covered landscape gives, as it has no effect on the ringing in my ears.
I love when I'm out hunting and a snow storm comes along the odd stillness moths me and it's just me and my gun in the world. I grew up in rual nebraska in a town of like 100 people so when we got snowed in it was pure isolation.
Living in Finland, every winter feels like those eerie winter landscapes, especially after sunset. It's spooky but kind of in a comforting way. Well until you see the northern lights that is. Then it becomes magical again
I'm from Sweden and I was a bit surprised on the perceived spookines. While I agree that the photos can look eerie, I can't recall ever feeling that way in reality here. The snow brings some light after all.
I have no clue when Solar Sands changed from being that channel that looked at weird pictures on Deviantart to having serious and thought-provoking videos about various forms of art, but I am glad to still be here to witness these gems.
I still remember when the change happened. Been following this guy since the deviantart era and suddenly he slowly started doing more serious (but with jokes) videos about art. I think it makes sense. He was always a critic of every form of art even ones we find silly. And he would not only judge but look at the good of it and recommend what to do so it could be better.
November 1, 2019, when he made a video delving into the Minecraft Paintings. You could also argue September 9, 2019, when he seriously critiqued Squidward's art. In short, the end of 2019
The dead silence due to the sound absorbing properties of the snow certainly adds to the vibe. I think what you're describing is similar to the rarely discussed "Horror of Noon" feeling on particularly hot days in the summer when even the animals strangely fall silent for a period of time, cept cicadas. Usually near the Summer Solstice when the Sun is as close to zenith as possible. The air is still except for perhaps a dust devil in the distance, the shadows of trees and windows of buildings are a deep dark and could hide any sort of predator, perhaps only seemingly dark because of the blinding sun, but still nearly black. The grass and trees are perhaps turning a pale yellow because of the heat. I get this vibe in a wide open field or park where I'm perhaps most exposed.
I think its because Both have this style of showing slideshow of images with a slightly monotone commentary over them. Vsauce would have had given the same vibes if not for his excited voice
Three weeks ago, I stepped out onto my front porch at 4am to get in my car and go to work. I wasn’t really paying attention, grabbing my keys from the hook when I stepped and heard a crunching sound. Startled, I looked down and then all around to see a field of pure white. There was no snow in the forecast, and where I live we are lucky to get snow once a year, normally in late January. It was one of the most serine and beautiful things I’ve seen in a long time. Absolute silence, strangely not even that cold, no wind, no movement at all. Like I had been transported to a whole new world. I was also late for work by 3 hours due to multiple, separate multi-car pile ups, but that’s beside the point lol.
Snow has a curious way of making the air feel warmer than it is. -5 without snow feels much colder than -5 (c) with snow. Not sure if it's tied to humidity levels or something
Yes - here in Northern California, there's nothing like running out of dry firewood to remind you how easily we take for granted the "creature comforts"....we love the eerie landscapes of winter, but soon forget the battles for survival they might entail....
I live in Finland which is pretty up north. Winters here get cold and snowy, but to me more importantly dark. The darkest day of the year (December 22) is tomorrow. The sun tends to start going down around 2 or 3 pm at this time of year. Very melancholic. It's not surprising to me that the nordics focus more on the eeriness and sadness of winter in art than people in Texas for example.
I’m a Minnesota native and we only have sunlight from 8 AM to 4:30 PM, but that pales in comparison to how dark it gets in Finland. I love the Minnesota North Woods and would love to visit and spend lots of time in Finland!! 🥰
@@rachel_sj I'd recommend visiting in the summer time when it's nice, warm and bright instead of the winter :D Never been outside the EU myself, but visiting America would be real cool one day.
@@kapelski104I like to imagine that the weather there is much like Minnesota, considering so many people of Finnish descent are in the area, looks like the temperatures are similar at least
@@ungabungus01 Yes, I think it’s very similar (at least the North Woods anyway) and I am one quarter Finnish myself, so that probably explains why I feel at home in the North Country and would love visiting Finland!
Northerners know the feeling of muted bliss after a very heavy snowfall on a mild and windless winters day. That sensation of pure silence distilled through and through the dense snow veiling everything in abundance. When even the thinnest of branchlets must hold their share. That feeling of a silence so potent, so remarkable. One day this feeling will be a campfire tale. Barely credible, hardly imaginable.
''I have only seen snow a few times in my life'' Is such a depressing thing for me to hear. I live in Quebec and snow is such a big part of our life and identity. I love snow.
I went to Quebec City this past January, stayed a night in Hotel de Glace and went on a 3 hour snowmobile ride, first time on one. Best vacation I've had.
I good chunk of the human population does not ever experience snow for multitudes of reasons. I live in Southern California and also experienced snow only a few times, but I live close enough to mountains I can drive there within an hour or 2, depending on the condition of the roads.
@@suspicioussand Yeah, we're getting sky piss this year in the boring farm fields of Ohio. I wish we had another year like the winter of 2014-15 here in the north-west of the state.
20:32 it brings me some comfort to hear someone else say this. I’ve been having urges to self end for a while and whenever I’m out in nature in the Canadian winter I often feel the call of the cold night. I was walking by an almost frozen river last weekend and I came that close to jumping in. Like you said, it’s easy to feel that our emotions are unique to us.
When I was a kid I used to live in Alaska and woke up early to wait for the school bus, even during the winter with snow reaching up to my knees. I was the only one who waited at that bus stop and often times there'd be 5-10 minutes of just dark silence with the only sound being the snow crunching under my boots as I shift my weight a little. Those were some of the most eerily peaceful moments I've ever experienced. Just standing out there with my own thoughts, dark overcast sky, no one else around, no lights, no sound, surrounded by a snow covered forest. It was honestly beautiful.
I feel like I've seen a lot of people sharing the "I'd like to die here" sentiment recently, so it's interesting that you mentioned it here. Thank you for this video!
as someone from Alaska, there is and always will be this fear in my head that if we stumble too far from the main highway, from our homes, into the pitch black frozen forest, that like a cave, we may never see civilization again...
The idea of being conditionally safe from a harsh and deadly world via a being bundled up in a safe insulated space gives me a deep and strong feeling that's almost enough to send a chill up my spine. I love this concept to death.
i was thinking the same thing, like this mf painting captured it so well i paused the vid to appreciate it more, and even zoomed in to be sure it wasn’t actually a photo
I’m grateful to have grown up in a place with bitter winters. It always takes my breath away when the trees freeze over, and you can see the glistening icicles hang off of the branches.
what takes my breath away is the sight of the afternoon sun shining brightly on the fresh snow on a sunny day. the snow sparkles, and you can see so many colors in the beautiful, pure white.
One of my favourite things about winter is how cold it is literally and figuratively it's quiet and lonely but there's a strange sense of peace to and quiet to it that you can't find anywhere else especially at night when the cold starts to nip you harder than it would during the day and the snow glimmer becomes more obvious this is one of my reasons why i love winter having lived around it my entire life
i dont get that kinda winter here but rain brings its own calmness, the sounds of day to day life that clutter a city are dampened to being unnoticeable and the birds and stuff get quite to, its not hard to imagine them snuggled up in a tree keeping warm and dry together waiting out the storm, it forces the world to slow down and relax and i love that also about cold more generally, when i was a kid my nose would always get cold and wet and while it was kinda annoying to have a river in my nose lol, it also gave a cozy feeling idk
I yearn for those dark wintery pics. They are the comfiest ones for me, exactly because they're far from anyone else or, sometimes, even from humanity's influence on nature as a whole
I like the explanation that being indoors with harsh weather outdoors elicits a very comforting reaction because it's the natural tenancy of mammals to hunker down in their home with their families and get cozy when the weather gets bad, and seasonal depression can often come as a result of being or feeling isolated in these times where coming together is the most primally necessary.
20:40 I've actually also had this thought over the years. I frequently live in cold and relatively inhospitable places, and struggled with mental health for a long time. The idea of wandering into the woods, a place I find beautiful, and auccumbing to the cold and sleep was a.. romantic idea to me, I guess. I'm doing better these days, but the idea still lingers.
for me its a feeling of restfulness, like the instinct of a dying animal to find a quiet calm spot to slip away peacefully, or in my worse times wanting surroundings that feel more in line with my feelings either way always good to remember you can allow yourself restfulness without making it permanent, and you can engage is art with dark places without putting yourself in actual harms way
Driving 64 miles in a blizzard listening to Jacob Geller's "Fear of Cold" video while my tank was running on empty was an experience. I forsee this video being the backdrop to something equally nervewracking some day.
I live in Whitehorse in the Yukon of Canada & have been training to do long haul truck driving as a career. During my training during the winter with winter tires, I drive on empty highways in the dark of night with light snowfalls & nothing but the music of the truck and its loud sounds to keep me company. When I'm sleeping in the cab it gives me a really cozy feeling. The romanticization of "strangely familiar images" & "amateur winter photos" as you said really are similar to how I feel while doing this. Some nights when I'm too far out to find a truckstop, I stop on quiet sidestreets near the woods & its very quiet, & sometimes scary. But its still calming knowing the gentle snow is falling outside & I may be the only person for kilometers in each direction. I hope I can finish my training soon & do this for the rest of my life. As one wise person said, "find a job you love & you'll never work a day in your life."
Once again, you have outdone yourself. Possibly my new favorite video of yours, only challenged by Monumentality. I've always admired the dreary, quiet landscape that comes with winter, and it's frigid, but warm lull. You put it perfectly with many of these stories, winter can be revered and it can be challenged, but at the end of the day I feel as though it demands respect. Respect for the ancestors who came before us and those who braved it with almost no safety or amenities. I've always thanked our Lord for the gracious gift that is the weather, and its supreme beauty it brings us everyday. The stories you tell are magnificent and wondrous, I wish I could find more retellings of the lives of people like Karl Kuerner and Lawrence Oates, but I'm glad I was able to hear about and mourn these people today. Thank you for the beauty you show us, when many would have no idea where to search. For shining light on many obscure art pieces, these videos are a gift to me, to many, and to the art world itself.
I feel like I’ve been waiting for this video for my entire lifetime. I never expected my feelings on bleak winter landscapes to be so similarly felt by someone else, and you’ve articulated these feelings so much more accurately than I ever could myself. Fantastic work.
I grew up in the south centrial siberia (1997-2005), now i live in the humid northern germany and i miss the siberian winter so much, especially the snow. I remember when my paretns and i went to auntie, she lieved in a village, only way to get to her was by foot (about 3km). I was about 7 years old and barelly 1 meter tall, the snow was so high, if i didnt follow my parents who made a pathway, i would have been stuck in the snow. Im very familiar with the eerie winter landscape, though i never found it to be eerie or scary, it was so calming and the snow eating up the noise was always so mind clearing. I often felt the call to, lay down and sleep, because the snow seemed rather comfy.
You're right...that does sound strange. Lol. I like your channel. I miss those winters when, as a child, it would snow quite significantly. The southeast had way more snow growing up in the 1970s. The quietness of it was serene. Sunsets on the frozen farm could be depressing. As a kid, it seemed like winter would last forever. I do miss that time.
This is my favorite type of content on TH-cam. I've always been extremely interested in paintings, coming from an artistic family. I've grown up with paintings, and it is in my DNA. My grandparents have told me, that I've always been good at looking at paintings, putting pieces together in form of symbolisations, looking for meaning, discovering details, or just appreciating the sheer beauty of the painting, which is why I absolutely adore videos like this. Long essays of paintings or symbolisations in movies or video games. I love it!!! Thank you for this video, Solar!! New sub.
You've singlehandedly put words to thoughts and feelings I've had about winter and the snow, thoughts that I haven't had the words for until you said them here, in this video. Thank you for finding those words.
I grew up wayyyyy out in the countryside of the Hungarian Lowlands. Every winter was basically dark. Every night, a massive fog would cover the entire town that would gradually disappear as it became morning. Snow was/is fairly rare, but whenever it would snow, combined with the darkness of my street and the fog, it would make an incredibly _silent_ atmosphere. I grew up in this dark winter and I love it like that
I'll never forget that day on the Houston gulf coast. My cat refused to get off my chest that morning like she was insisting I stay in bed. Just as it began to snow, my first time to ever see snow, my rabbit began struggling to breath. She died that day as everyone rejoiced in the snow. It was very bittersweet for me but I remember my sister and I building 3 inch tall snowmen on the hood of the car and tried saving snowballs of mostly dirt in the freezer.
As someone born and raised in southern Arizona, I've only ever seen the snow twice in my life. I had to travel north for both occasions, once to Flagstaff (the highest point in Arizona) and another to Banff (a popular tourist city in the Canadian Rockies). The snow has always seemed to alien to me. A completely foreign world only seen in movies and books. It feels more beautiful that way. It hasn't become mundane, it hasn't become dull. It hasn't lost it's magic; because as far as I'm concerned, it is magic.
I screamed out loud when you mentioned the Houston snowfall in 2004. I was there. I remember running out into the yard with my brother and meeting my neighbors for the first time ever because we were all so enchanted. We just had to go outside and see what was happening. I didn't have mittens or anything like that, so I used socks on my hands to make snowballs. Great memories. (Anyway, hello, fellow Texan. Great video!)
Living in Finland, I have become very familiar with these kinds of scenes. And I absolutely love it. Winter can be beautiful. It can be gloomy. It can be dangerous. But one thing is clear. It's calm.
This is incredible man, ive always felt this "authentic connection" to this brutal and desolate form of nature. This was incredibly well put into words.
You know, i have watched your channel actively since your video about liminal spaces in 2020 and after basically 5 years worth of videos i just now realize that this is an ART channel. I would have never considered myself a person interested in art, just weird internet stuff and youtube essays to put on the second monitor while playing games. But this video made me realize that kinda everything someone put a thought into and wants to convey something is art. And that i have always liked that, i just didnt realize it until now because in my mind art was just weird paintings i dont unterstand or something rich people use to pay less taxes, not that a picture someone takes on their way home from work could be this emotional. Thanks for that!
As a guy who lives in poland, scenes with snowy, empty, dark streets,or scenes with orange street lights on a snowy night, are very common. Basically, every winter in poland and all of the eastern European countries have the same thing. (And of course all the countries with a temperate climate.) It’s always the best part of the winter, when i can randomly go on a streets and just have a walk around all the residential blocks, dark streets, where the only light is a old orange street light.
One of my favorite survival games is The Long Dark, where you get in a plane crash and are stranded in an abandoned area of Northern Canada in the winter. Days are short, nights are long, the cold is a mechanic that you need to take into consideration every time you venture outside. There are active dangers like wolves, bears, and cougars, but mostly it's just you and the elements. It's a challenging game, but also strangely peaceful.
I am 3 minutes and 10 seconds in and already this is a absolutely banger video and encapsulates exactly why I love winter. I also live in texas and my favorite time of year is January, when the weather where I live is normally wet, cloudy, dark and it’s the most consistently cold. Outside is always quiet, the sun isn’t glaring down, and my favorite thing to do is go for long walks at night, when everything is dark, cold and very gentle
As somebody that loves in a winter wasteland I have been wanting to get into photography to have something i can look forward to doing in the winter. There is something so compelling about the winter.
i looooove your contributions to this genre of video. i dont know the name for it, not exactly art history but maybe art appreciation :) i especially like the psychological/emotional analysis
I love it, it reminds me of the first winter we spend here. Where I currently live. Now all my family is gone. I still love the snow; I love the sting you get when you breath cold air, and how the light reflects off the snow. We just have different perspective on the paintings you shared; nothing eerie for me.
Dude you’re mind > you have a way of waking myself and others up every video about art and the human experience, what you make is so inspiring 😭HAPPY HOLIDAYS
This is what I’ll miss, the silence of winter the dark crispness I love the winter but it’s not the same everywhere I’m eternally grateful to be living in Colorado
It's always a good day when we get a new Solar Sands video! You knocked it out of the park with this one. As someone who enjoys being out in the wee hours of night after a large Canadian snowfall when the streets are quiet, I found this video to be extra special. You really captured the haunting magic well--the art selections were absolutely on point!
I love winter. Always have. To me, the cold means I can sleep and can think straight, the silence and solitude of undisturbed winter landscapes just make me feel at ease and peaceful. Of course, I'm from Denmark where cold is normal, not Texas where it means power outages and death, so there's definitely a different cultural context, but even among my fellow Danes, I see a fair bit of seasonal depression in the season where I usually feel my best.
I just had a thought about this! I got into amateur photography recently with a y2k digital camera. I wanted to get away from my digital life of always posting everything I see and discussing with friends. It was too much. Last night i went out to the forest nerby us. We don't have snow currently, but the sheer sense of emptiness and hopelessness i felt really stuck with me. I took some photos, some long exposures, quite proud of some of them. Walking alone in the empty forest at night with a flashlight really gave me a sense of groundedness. I felt oddly comfortable, as I've been treading these same paths for the past 18 years, but the possibility of getting executed by boar or deer was still on my mind however. I feel as I'm getting older I begin to see things for what they are, not just the sunny fields and singing birds, but the undead silence of the crushing dark. The woosh of the wind as it sucks out the life out of every living thing. I love the winter. It reminds us of our mortality, and insignificance.
O find these winter landscapes comforting even inviting. There is nothing loud or disruptive. Away from everything. I go to places like this to take a walk every time I get the opurtunity. And it feels great every time.
Born in northern Indiana very familiar with lots of snow and cold weather, it's my favorite time of year hiking in it chopping wood in it looking at it, it's peaceful. But it's very surreal and I love photograph it.
As someone who lives in northern Europe it's interesting to hear you talk about snow and winter since here it's quite expected. You might want to look into Sami people and how interconnected their culture is with snow and also check out some northern european painters since they have also different viewpoint of livibg in the cold and snow etc. But fascinating video, I enjoyed it!
Yeah - it was A GREAT video, I really enjoyed it, but even in the UK (way milder than Finland) we can cope (...sort of...) with snow! A very Texan perspective;)
Seeing such a Texas centric viewpoint on winter makes me feel like a European watching American content. "human beings will have to worry about winter again" Dawg this embodies every Texan I've seen in my home state of Colorado white knuckling the wheel, driving 40mph under the speed limit in light snow. The crunch of the snow under your footsteps, the utter quietness that makes you reflect on your own tinnitus, the freezing chill of sub-zero temps that freeze your nose hairs with every breath. These things envoke a sense that makes you nourish life in the way one would care for their own body like a Tamagotchi. There is no fear in the one who understands what the environment is trying to tell you.
Humans in northern climes have historically feared winter as a time of death and desolation. If you didn’t store up enough food for the winter you’d starve to death. If you didn’t store enough fuel or had proper clothing or shelter you’d freeze. You are so removed from nature you have no concept of it.
I went into this with no interest whatsoever in the subject, but I trust your skill and taste. I'm absolutely spellbound. You are simply one of the best on all of TH-cam, full stop.
Everyone who thinks snow is magical has never been in a city full of snow for more than a week. After that, the snow starts to become beige, then brown, then eventually black.
Only fresh snow is "magical" obviously^^ After it has touched the profane ground for to long it becomes tainted by the world or smth. Thats my attempt to put a poetic spin on it lul^^
Or walked in the forest after months of winter. Each layer of snow is baked by the sun, creating a small ice layer that is then covered up by the next storm. After time, every step needs to lift a foot off the ground because your ankle is destroyed by bulling through layers of ice and fluff.
anyone that love snow has never had to do labor in it or felt the unseeable, unbearable presence in a forest in winters smothering night, just barely out of sight. anyone who hates snow have never experienced the magic of a snowy day with blue sky in the quiet country, a fresh Christmas morning, or the relief of a winter turned gorgeous after weeks of mere cold. Only true understanders of snow know to love and hate it, they respect its crushing silence or its unknowable secrets.
I live in Yakutsk (the official coldest city on Earth) and a few years ago we had terribly cold winters, when it was below -50C for months. It felt like death was near. This year I see a lot of hair tracks in the forest snow when I go there with my dad and his dog when it's above -25C, it brings me joy every time. The Terror and The Thing are the only pieces of TV and cinema that capture this cold well, in my opinion. Winter feels like death to me. And I'm lucky to be an animal who lives in a stone box with central heating. The grid failing would be the scariest thing to live through in winter. If my country was a normal place, I'd invite you here, alas...
Bros obviously not felt -40 degrees. Imagine 100 degrees, a hot day and uncomfortable... now imagine 140 and even the air moving past you brings that temperature up even more (wind chill) ... no you CAN escape the heat, underground or within a home. Eventually the sun goes away bringing you the relief of Night, in winter... Night brings death. The temperature drops even lower than it was during the day. And sure eat meat, whatever energy you just got is getting wasted as your body temperature leaks into the environment fighting to warm up everything else besides just yourself. Who ever said this has clearly never seen more than one day of "cold" weather. It's literally impossible to escape the cold because the cold takes from you whatever heat gives. Having to have a fan is not equal to having to have a fire. God damn GO FOR A SWIM IN WINTER I DARE YOU. It's so hot I need to go for a swim, or it's so cold my car won't start. Water lines freeze and break leaving you with even less. Good luck having even hot water for 365 days.
@brixan... dig a hole. Shade. Water/ocean. Ice ( constantly available with electricity and running water ). If you can't escape the heat, then move to Alaska. Canada. Move north... or is it, heat is a chosen misery while the cold is a lived one? You know, when it's -40, whatever food you eat, how ever many blankets, you lose. Your body dispensed the heat you make to warm up everything else. Take a toll on Summer homes vs Winter homes. How many people run north during the summer? How many from the north run to south in winter? Does swimming in winter sound fun?
@brixan... wtf is a cave then? A sauna turned off? How about night when it's hot it stops being hot, but when it's cold it gets colder? Dude, go camping without a sleeping bag in November in half the world and you die.
From deviant art critic to art, Solar Sands might be my favourite development of any TH-camr. Your videos are the ones you wait to watch and enjoy on the weekend, with a good snack and maybe a nice drink! Thank you
One of my favorite examples of winter solitude is Paysage D’Hiver’s self-titled record. It’s literally if you gave these desolate winter landscapes a soundtrack.
I grew up in rural eastern washington. I know the eerie feeling you get from the dark winter landscapes. nowadays they don't as much snow, but even 10 years ago it still got dark and cold.
People who hold winter in closer company know to be careful of its false allure. It can offer quiet moments of peace in an otherwise entropic place but there is always the sense of desolation and bitterness, always. The simple act of actually feeling cold and being familiar with it can wholly shift winters whimsical image into something more hostile quickly.
Thank you for coming into this world, gathering your thoughts and these images, documenting it, and putting it out for us to see. This goes for all of your videos. So many time you have captured the depth of how I feel about life and its offerings, and while I instinctively know there are others like me out there and I’ve found a couple, it’s nice when your videos pop up and I remember I’m not as alone as I think I am.
I'm glad you have a video covering this, I always felt a draw to the desolate and silent aspect of winter at night. It's always felt otherworldly to me in a mysterious and calming way. One of my favorite memories is walking to work at 4:00am in a huge blizzard where the snow at times was almost up to my waist. It was almost in complete darkness, lit only by the few and fae between dim streetlights that were mostly obscured by the snow. The feeling I got from it was exactly the ones felt in the photos and paintings in this video!
Some of my most colorful and mesmerizing amateur photos are taken in the very depths of winter, of a steaming, frozen Great Lake at sunrise. And snow stuck to each and every twig, branch and trunk…I still gasp on those mornings when I first encounter it. I love winter. Yes there’s plenty of gloom, and I certainly understand seasonal depression. But I’ve grown to appreciate all of it. And beauty is renewed annually - all year round. I will never give up seasons. Especially winter. The most beautiful things are those that have a fast approaching expiration date/time. Flowers, kittens, babies, sunsets. And funny how humans don’t really make these - the MOST beautiful of things. But Mother Earth. Also with an expiration date. This was great.
As a Canadian, I find it strange for people to Find the Winter so Alien, I guess that’s just the way it works. The less you experience something the more unreal it feels. I wonder how Weird it would be for some people to learn I think the Scalding heat of the Summer is just as Alien to me as The winter is to them. I’m confident in my understanding of what it takes to survive winter Wilderness, I am less so In my ability to survive the Heat of the Deep south.
Great video, as always. As a Canadian photographer myself, snowy landscapes are a favourite subject of mine. Sometimes I try to show winter as magical, welcoming, clean and friendly. Other times, I do like to emphasize the quiet, gloomy desolation and contemplative mood that can come with the season. Last night, I was down town photographing Christmas trees and lights in the fresh snow, wanting to post the pictures in time for Christmas. Once, I went out into a wooded area alone, at night, without lights on, and took long exposure pictures in the quiet darkness. In conclusion, winter is a land of contrasts lol.
OH GOD ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL AND RESONANT MASTERPIECE UNWORTHY OF HUMAN EYES!!! Great work Solar Sands I wish a billion more views to you and a lovely holiday, be well and do what makes you happy
being someone who focuses quite narrowly on music i sometimes forget how truly captivating the visual arts can be, and your videos always remind me. thank you :)
This is probably one of my favourite emotion and atmosphere to experience. Despite its desolate feeling, the calmness it brings is almost addicting... Great video
They hate the cold, the snow and ice are just there, they are cold yes, but only if you touch them, it’s collateral damage to hate them because you associate them with horrid cold.
living in a place with plenty of snow for most of the year i hate snow because it’s cold, miserable, wet and dirty, not because i have to drive or shovel. 🫡
I’m speechless, one of your best videos! You are amazing at describing these delicate landscapes like I’m in that moment. In Virginia so I don’t get much snow but this perfectly captures the atmosphere. Keep making great videos ❤❤❤
i live in dallas, and whenever theres a freeze my neighborhood always lose power, and it gets so cold that me and my dad make a small fire in our shed to stay warm during the freeze.
I love winter, I love the romance of the holidays as well as the bleak hopelessness of a cold death. I love music that invokes the feeling, as well as paintings like this shown. Last winter I painted a deer, frozen with ribs exposed to get a more solid image of what winter is to me on canvas. Thank you for the great video!
I love to go for walks in the winter snow. The show acts as a sounds dampener and makes everything feel closer. The way the snow also reflects the light and makes everything brighter is so enchanting. I love the quiet, stark solitude of snow.
You know, if you've ever been in a forest when there's that much snow, the snow absorbs, like, all of the reverb and ambient noise. The type of ambient noise that you don't even notice because it's always around until you stand in a place like is depicted at 18:00. There, it's so silent, you gain a level of awareness on your surroundings you've never been able to experience in most moments.
I grew up in the snow belt. Winter was a sight to behold. Snow measured not by the inch but by the foot typically. The images of these dark browns and grays of the sky always just reminded me of home when I was abroad. Now that I have returned they have taken on more meaning as I have spent hours witnessing that power of nature first hand while hunting. It’s scene in its own right to stand clad only in leather and wool against an oncoming storm front, the skies fade from gray to brown to black as the snow pushes through the distant horizon on its way to you. Clinging to a rifle, I remember seeing them across the field in the field beyond. A troop moving so quietly and quick. You don’t realize once the snow is falling how silent it is. To see them but not even hear them. I remember steeling my self lifting and leveling. Last chance of the year before hunting season ended. Shook the cold from my limbs, guessed the lead an drop, then bang, the only sound did not echo of the trees, the cold shot landed and I watched a deer tumble into the dead grass and fresh snow. The only words I uttered where “well fuck” as I knew I’d be doing the work right as the storm front hit. But that silence as they ran. That cold cutting through my coat, as I gathered my self. That sky as the daylight was fading. It’s an amazing image I will never forget.
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@SolarSands the fact that this eerie winter feeling was the majority of my childhood in alaska meant when i moved to Texas, i got depressed.
The cold and bleak is weirdly comforting , maybe due to lack of stimulation. It's like the cold calls for you to fall into it.
Sigma sands
Have you been listening Reidenshi and Oneheart's Snowfall? Lol, it fits the video to a tee.
I can't express how much I'm thankful for this content. The idea of a world shrouded in eternal winter is... always so interesting to me. I even wanted to put it in my novel as a setting but I lack the knowledge on the season since I live in a tropical part of the planet.
The way you describe it helps me so much to understand it, thank you...
gotta say, I really appreciate how you switched up your style of content over time, very interesting videos on interesting concepts.
I love the silence of snow, it makes me feel so far from the loud city. The way the snow disconnects a person from the disturbances that surrounds them is oddly calming.
Winter is when everything (apart from us) is quiet. The word you’re looking for is stillness, where your troubles can’t worm their way into your thoughts and you are only at the present moment.
the first winter after i got tinnitus was heartbreaking, i still remember the moment i realized i will never feel that calm comforting muffling of sounds a completely snow covered landscape gives, as it has no effect on the ringing in my ears.
Yes, the dead silence of a city the size of Denver after a large fresh snowfall? Words have a hard time doing it justice really...
I love when I'm out hunting and a snow storm comes along the odd stillness moths me and it's just me and my gun in the world. I grew up in rual nebraska in a town of like 100 people so when we got snowed in it was pure isolation.
Nothing better than putting boots on and step on the fresh, crunchy snow
Living in Finland, every winter feels like those eerie winter landscapes, especially after sunset. It's spooky but kind of in a comforting way. Well until you see the northern lights that is. Then it becomes magical again
Same but I live in Northeast US, it’s a weird mix of creepy and cozy.
lucky
Its cool
I've seen how regularly snowy and soft it gets in Winter in Finland, I want to go experience that so bad
I'm from Sweden and I was a bit surprised on the perceived spookines. While I agree that the photos can look eerie, I can't recall ever feeling that way in reality here. The snow brings some light after all.
I have no clue when Solar Sands changed from being that channel that looked at weird pictures on Deviantart to having serious and thought-provoking videos about various forms of art, but I am glad to still be here to witness these gems.
Um... like several years ago XD
I haven been watching for years and that was before my time.
I still remember when the change happened. Been following this guy since the deviantart era and suddenly he slowly started doing more serious (but with jokes) videos about art.
I think it makes sense. He was always a critic of every form of art even ones we find silly. And he would not only judge but look at the good of it and recommend what to do so it could be better.
November 1, 2019, when he made a video delving into the Minecraft Paintings.
You could also argue September 9, 2019, when he seriously critiqued Squidward's art.
In short, the end of 2019
Remember when he was tweaking over minor diaper fetish art? The good ol days.
2019? damn I didn't know i've been watching this channel for that long.
The dead silence due to the sound absorbing properties of the snow certainly adds to the vibe. I think what you're describing is similar to the rarely discussed "Horror of Noon" feeling on particularly hot days in the summer when even the animals strangely fall silent for a period of time, cept cicadas. Usually near the Summer Solstice when the Sun is as close to zenith as possible. The air is still except for perhaps a dust devil in the distance, the shadows of trees and windows of buildings are a deep dark and could hide any sort of predator, perhaps only seemingly dark because of the blinding sun, but still nearly black. The grass and trees are perhaps turning a pale yellow because of the heat. I get this vibe in a wide open field or park where I'm perhaps most exposed.
Perhaps
@@chezdoodlz 😂 yeah, I did overuse it a bit.
@@MattOfTheDesertperhaps you should write a poem about it, great description of something I never gave much thought to none the less!
@@danielreed4050 🤔 one day, perhaps.
@@MattOfTheDesert perchance 😂😉
Emp Lemon and Solar Sands feel like two brothers seperated by birth but ended up doing the same things.
I just wanted to comment that they sound so much alike. They should collab, I would not be able to tell the difference.
I think you can hear the difference but their style of narration is very similar.
I've always felt this way, with leadhead thrown in there too
I'm glad I wasn't the only one to gather this
I think its because Both have this style of showing slideshow of images with a slightly monotone commentary over them. Vsauce would have had given the same vibes if not for his excited voice
Three weeks ago, I stepped out onto my front porch at 4am to get in my car and go to work. I wasn’t really paying attention, grabbing my keys from the hook when I stepped and heard a crunching sound. Startled, I looked down and then all around to see a field of pure white. There was no snow in the forecast, and where I live we are lucky to get snow once a year, normally in late January. It was one of the most serine and beautiful things I’ve seen in a long time. Absolute silence, strangely not even that cold, no wind, no movement at all. Like I had been transported to a whole new world.
I was also late for work by 3 hours due to multiple, separate multi-car pile ups, but that’s beside the point lol.
the duality of snow lol^^
Snow has a curious way of making the air feel warmer than it is. -5 without snow feels much colder than -5 (c) with snow. Not sure if it's tied to humidity levels or something
Yes - here in Northern California, there's nothing like running out of dry firewood to remind you how easily we take for granted the "creature comforts"....we love the eerie landscapes of winter, but soon forget the battles for survival they might entail....
@@yuuboi661 Snow is actually a very good insulator, so it reflects heat very well
That is why I love snow. The silence.
I live in Finland which is pretty up north. Winters here get cold and snowy, but to me more importantly dark. The darkest day of the year (December 22) is tomorrow. The sun tends to start going down around 2 or 3 pm at this time of year. Very melancholic. It's not surprising to me that the nordics focus more on the eeriness and sadness of winter in art than people in Texas for example.
I’m a Minnesota native and we only have sunlight from 8 AM to 4:30 PM, but that pales in comparison to how dark it gets in Finland. I love the Minnesota North Woods and would love to visit and spend lots of time in Finland!! 🥰
@@rachel_sj I'd recommend visiting in the summer time when it's nice, warm and bright instead of the winter :D
Never been outside the EU myself, but visiting America would be real cool one day.
@@kapelski104I like to imagine that the weather there is much like Minnesota, considering so many people of Finnish descent are in the area, looks like the temperatures are similar at least
I live in Finland too and I love the eerie winter photos, they are so nostalgic in a weird way
@@ungabungus01 Yes, I think it’s very similar (at least the North Woods anyway) and I am one quarter Finnish myself, so that probably explains why I feel at home in the North Country and would love visiting Finland!
Northerners know the feeling of muted bliss after a very heavy snowfall on a mild and windless winters day. That sensation of pure silence distilled through and through the dense snow veiling everything in abundance. When even the thinnest of branchlets must hold their share. That feeling of a silence so potent, so remarkable. One day this feeling will be a campfire tale. Barely credible, hardly imaginable.
Ouch ..
Windless winter days cannot come often enough
lol climate change is fake
''I have only seen snow a few times in my life'' Is such a depressing thing for me to hear. I live in Quebec and snow is such a big part of our life and identity. I love snow.
I went to Quebec City this past January, stayed a night in Hotel de Glace and went on a 3 hour snowmobile ride, first time on one. Best vacation I've had.
@lopmon.apologist, I live in the MidWest and I still dread the onset of snow and ice in the winter. A brief dusting is ok.
Imagine having Christmas without snow
I good chunk of the human population does not ever experience snow for multitudes of reasons. I live in Southern California and also experienced snow only a few times, but I live close enough to mountains I can drive there within an hour or 2, depending on the condition of the roads.
@@suspicioussand Yeah, we're getting sky piss this year in the boring farm fields of Ohio. I wish we had another year like the winter of 2014-15 here in the north-west of the state.
Black Metal fans loving this video, absolutely wiggling in their seats with excitement watching a collage of every album cover ever.
Hashtag dsbm
saaame
Windir's 1184 cover is at 5:22
20:32 it brings me some comfort to hear someone else say this. I’ve been having urges to self end for a while and whenever I’m out in nature in the Canadian winter I often feel the call of the cold night. I was walking by an almost frozen river last weekend and I came that close to jumping in. Like you said, it’s easy to feel that our emotions are unique to us.
damn man stay safe, there is a lot worth living for
Thank you kind stranger
@@j.w.- No there isn't. Life is a waste of time that we're gaslit into tolerating by society and our own biology.
@@GruntoSkunko so true
@@GruntoSkunko Okay edgelord, pack it up.
When I was a kid I used to live in Alaska and woke up early to wait for the school bus, even during the winter with snow reaching up to my knees.
I was the only one who waited at that bus stop and often times there'd be 5-10 minutes of just dark silence with the only sound being the snow crunching under my boots as I shift my weight a little. Those were some of the most eerily peaceful moments I've ever experienced. Just standing out there with my own thoughts, dark overcast sky, no one else around, no lights, no sound, surrounded by a snow covered forest. It was honestly beautiful.
I feel like I've seen a lot of people sharing the "I'd like to die here" sentiment recently, so it's interesting that you mentioned it here. Thank you for this video!
as someone from Alaska, there is and always will be this fear in my head that if we stumble too far from the main highway, from our homes, into the pitch black frozen forest, that like a cave, we may never see civilization again...
He’s got you commenting in his narrative voice hell yeah
Snow as the American version of a faerie ring
That's understandable, for someone who lives in Alaska, and terrifying
Not just Alaska!
Wassup lil buh
The idea of being conditionally safe from a harsh and deadly world via a being bundled up in a safe insulated space gives me a deep and strong feeling that's almost enough to send a chill up my spine. I love this concept to death.
You might like the metro games
12:33 this painting looks strikingly photorealistic to me. the lighting just seems perfect
i was thinking the same thing, like this mf painting captured it so well i paused the vid to appreciate it more, and even zoomed in to be sure it wasn’t actually a photo
Made 1880 look like today.
@@AFellowCyberman As a Dane, I feel like I have literally seen this exact scene before. It looks so familiar it's crazy.
oh my god guys drop everything new solar sands video
well grans dead i think but hey, i'm here watching the new video!!!
@@Kanakou_DX15 RIP GRANDMA RIP GRANDMA (zookdook)
I was literally just about to sleep😭
Reminds me of Jacob Geller's 'Fear of Cold'
A man of taste I see
These 2 channels are of perfect equal excellence.
ah yes
Ah, a fellow man of culture.
I started watching him because of that video.
I’m grateful to have grown up in a place with bitter winters. It always takes my breath away when the trees freeze over, and you can see the glistening icicles hang off of the branches.
what takes my breath away is the sight of the afternoon sun shining brightly on the fresh snow on a sunny day. the snow sparkles, and you can see so many colors in the beautiful, pure white.
@@nameofthename the frozen raccoon that came out for trash only to solidify 10 feet from the woodline... ah the beauty of winter
The way you speak here is absurdly good, this is possibly your best writing yet.
One of my favourite things about winter is how cold it is literally and figuratively it's quiet and lonely but there's a strange sense of peace to and quiet to it that you can't find anywhere else especially at night when the cold starts to nip you harder than it would during the day and the snow glimmer becomes more obvious this is one of my reasons why i love winter having lived around it my entire life
i dont get that kinda winter here but rain brings its own calmness, the sounds of day to day life that clutter a city are dampened to being unnoticeable and the birds and stuff get quite to, its not hard to imagine them snuggled up in a tree keeping warm and dry together waiting out the storm, it forces the world to slow down and relax and i love that
also about cold more generally, when i was a kid my nose would always get cold and wet and while it was kinda annoying to have a river in my nose lol, it also gave a cozy feeling idk
I yearn for those dark wintery pics. They are the comfiest ones for me, exactly because they're far from anyone else or, sometimes, even from humanity's influence on nature as a whole
Man SolarSands could make a video about literally anything and I'd watch it
I like the explanation that being indoors with harsh weather outdoors elicits a very comforting reaction because it's the natural tenancy of mammals to hunker down in their home with their families and get cozy when the weather gets bad, and seasonal depression can often come as a result of being or feeling isolated in these times where coming together is the most primally necessary.
20:40 I've actually also had this thought over the years. I frequently live in cold and relatively inhospitable places, and struggled with mental health for a long time. The idea of wandering into the woods, a place I find beautiful, and auccumbing to the cold and sleep was a.. romantic idea to me, I guess. I'm doing better these days, but the idea still lingers.
for me its a feeling of restfulness, like the instinct of a dying animal to find a quiet calm spot to slip away peacefully, or in my worse times wanting surroundings that feel more in line with my feelings
either way always good to remember you can allow yourself restfulness without making it permanent, and you can engage is art with dark places without putting yourself in actual harms way
As someone living in a Baltic country these scenes are a regular Tuesday for me, very familiar and calming
Driving 64 miles in a blizzard listening to Jacob Geller's "Fear of Cold" video while my tank was running on empty was an experience. I forsee this video being the backdrop to something equally nervewracking some day.
I live in Whitehorse in the Yukon of Canada & have been training to do long haul truck driving as a career. During my training during the winter with winter tires, I drive on empty highways in the dark of night with light snowfalls & nothing but the music of the truck and its loud sounds to keep me company. When I'm sleeping in the cab it gives me a really cozy feeling. The romanticization of "strangely familiar images" & "amateur winter photos" as you said really are similar to how I feel while doing this. Some nights when I'm too far out to find a truckstop, I stop on quiet sidestreets near the woods & its very quiet, & sometimes scary. But its still calming knowing the gentle snow is falling outside & I may be the only person for kilometers in each direction. I hope I can finish my training soon & do this for the rest of my life. As one wise person said, "find a job you love & you'll never work a day in your life."
Once again, you have outdone yourself. Possibly my new favorite video of yours, only challenged by Monumentality. I've always admired the dreary, quiet landscape that comes with winter, and it's frigid, but warm lull. You put it perfectly with many of these stories, winter can be revered and it can be challenged, but at the end of the day I feel as though it demands respect. Respect for the ancestors who came before us and those who braved it with almost no safety or amenities. I've always thanked our Lord for the gracious gift that is the weather, and its supreme beauty it brings us everyday.
The stories you tell are magnificent and wondrous, I wish I could find more retellings of the lives of people like Karl Kuerner and Lawrence Oates, but I'm glad I was able to hear about and mourn these people today. Thank you for the beauty you show us, when many would have no idea where to search. For shining light on many obscure art pieces, these videos are a gift to me, to many, and to the art world itself.
I feel like I’ve been waiting for this video for my entire lifetime. I never expected my feelings on bleak winter landscapes to be so similarly felt by someone else, and you’ve articulated these feelings so much more accurately than I ever could myself.
Fantastic work.
I grew up in the south centrial siberia (1997-2005), now i live in the humid northern germany and i miss the siberian winter so much, especially the snow. I remember when my paretns and i went to auntie, she lieved in a village, only way to get to her was by foot (about 3km). I was about 7 years old and barelly 1 meter tall, the snow was so high, if i didnt follow my parents who made a pathway, i would have been stuck in the snow. Im very familiar with the eerie winter landscape, though i never found it to be eerie or scary, it was so calming and the snow eating up the noise was always so mind clearing. I often felt the call to, lay down and sleep, because the snow seemed rather comfy.
You're right...that does sound strange. Lol. I like your channel. I miss those winters when, as a child, it would snow quite significantly. The southeast had way more snow growing up in the 1970s. The quietness of it was serene. Sunsets on the frozen farm could be depressing. As a kid, it seemed like winter would last forever. I do miss that time.
9:42 Jumpscare warning.
This is my favorite type of content on TH-cam.
I've always been extremely interested in paintings, coming from an artistic family. I've grown up with paintings, and it is in my DNA.
My grandparents have told me, that I've always been good at looking at paintings, putting pieces together in form of symbolisations, looking for meaning, discovering details, or just appreciating the sheer beauty of the painting, which is why I absolutely adore videos like this. Long essays of paintings or symbolisations in movies or video games. I love it!!!
Thank you for this video, Solar!! New sub.
You've singlehandedly put words to thoughts and feelings I've had about winter and the snow, thoughts that I haven't had the words for until you said them here, in this video. Thank you for finding those words.
loved this one. this video perfectly incapsulates that unexplainable black hole feeling you get with these paintings and photos
I grew up wayyyyy out in the countryside of the Hungarian Lowlands. Every winter was basically dark. Every night, a massive fog would cover the entire town that would gradually disappear as it became morning. Snow was/is fairly rare, but whenever it would snow, combined with the darkness of my street and the fog, it would make an incredibly _silent_ atmosphere.
I grew up in this dark winter and I love it like that
26:27, by far the most wierdcore image I've ever seen. just gives that feeling. especially with the font on the bottom right.
I'll never forget that day on the Houston gulf coast. My cat refused to get off my chest that morning like she was insisting I stay in bed. Just as it began to snow, my first time to ever see snow, my rabbit began struggling to breath. She died that day as everyone rejoiced in the snow. It was very bittersweet for me but I remember my sister and I building 3 inch tall snowmen on the hood of the car and tried saving snowballs of mostly dirt in the freezer.
As someone born and raised in southern Arizona, I've only ever seen the snow twice in my life. I had to travel north for both occasions, once to Flagstaff (the highest point in Arizona) and another to Banff (a popular tourist city in the Canadian Rockies). The snow has always seemed to alien to me. A completely foreign world only seen in movies and books. It feels more beautiful that way. It hasn't become mundane, it hasn't become dull. It hasn't lost it's magic; because as far as I'm concerned, it is magic.
I'm from Brazil and I always thought that the Arizona was a place hot all the year. It's really cool to know this.
I screamed out loud when you mentioned the Houston snowfall in 2004. I was there. I remember running out into the yard with my brother and meeting my neighbors for the first time ever because we were all so enchanted. We just had to go outside and see what was happening. I didn't have mittens or anything like that, so I used socks on my hands to make snowballs. Great memories. (Anyway, hello, fellow Texan. Great video!)
Cringe
Hope you had a good snowball fight to be fond of and a snowman to have been friends with. Seeing snow in a snowless area is dreamy.
Living in Finland, I have become very familiar with these kinds of scenes. And I absolutely love it.
Winter can be beautiful. It can be gloomy. It can be dangerous. But one thing is clear. It's calm.
This is incredible man, ive always felt this "authentic connection" to this brutal and desolate form of nature. This was incredibly well put into words.
You know, i have watched your channel actively since your video about liminal spaces in 2020 and after basically 5 years worth of videos i just now realize that this is an ART channel. I would have never considered myself a person interested in art, just weird internet stuff and youtube essays to put on the second monitor while playing games. But this video made me realize that kinda everything someone put a thought into and wants to convey something is art. And that i have always liked that, i just didnt realize it until now because in my mind art was just weird paintings i dont unterstand or something rich people use to pay less taxes, not that a picture someone takes on their way home from work could be this emotional. Thanks for that!
As a guy who lives in poland, scenes with snowy, empty, dark streets,or scenes with orange street lights on a snowy night, are very common. Basically, every winter in poland and all of the eastern European countries have the same thing. (And of course all the countries with a temperate climate.) It’s always the best part of the winter, when i can randomly go on a streets and just have a walk around all the residential blocks, dark streets, where the only light is a old orange street light.
One of my favorite survival games is The Long Dark, where you get in a plane crash and are stranded in an abandoned area of Northern Canada in the winter. Days are short, nights are long, the cold is a mechanic that you need to take into consideration every time you venture outside. There are active dangers like wolves, bears, and cougars, but mostly it's just you and the elements. It's a challenging game, but also strangely peaceful.
They’re making a sequel!
@ethanmcfarland8240 I know, I'm looking forward to it
I am 3 minutes and 10 seconds in and already this is a absolutely banger video and encapsulates exactly why I love winter. I also live in texas and my favorite time of year is January, when the weather where I live is normally wet, cloudy, dark and it’s the most consistently cold. Outside is always quiet, the sun isn’t glaring down, and my favorite thing to do is go for long walks at night, when everything is dark, cold and very gentle
As somebody that loves in a winter wasteland I have been wanting to get into photography to have something i can look forward to doing in the winter. There is something so compelling about the winter.
09:02 "Waterfall" from Undertale, Let's gooo
i looooove your contributions to this genre of video. i dont know the name for it, not exactly art history but maybe art appreciation :) i especially like the psychological/emotional analysis
I love it, it reminds me of the first winter we spend here. Where I currently live. Now all my family is gone. I still love the snow; I love the sting you get when you breath cold air, and how the light reflects off the snow. We just have different perspective on the paintings you shared; nothing eerie for me.
Dude you’re mind > you have a way of waking myself and others up every video about art and the human experience, what you make is so inspiring 😭HAPPY HOLIDAYS
This is what I’ll miss, the silence of winter the dark crispness I love the winter but it’s not the same everywhere I’m eternally grateful to be living in Colorado
It's always a good day when we get a new Solar Sands video! You knocked it out of the park with this one. As someone who enjoys being out in the wee hours of night after a large Canadian snowfall when the streets are quiet, I found this video to be extra special. You really captured the haunting magic well--the art selections were absolutely on point!
I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw a new solar sands video
I love winter. Always have. To me, the cold means I can sleep and can think straight, the silence and solitude of undisturbed winter landscapes just make me feel at ease and peaceful. Of course, I'm from Denmark where cold is normal, not Texas where it means power outages and death, so there's definitely a different cultural context, but even among my fellow Danes, I see a fair bit of seasonal depression in the season where I usually feel my best.
I just had a thought about this! I got into amateur photography recently with a y2k digital camera. I wanted to get away from my digital life of always posting everything I see and discussing with friends. It was too much. Last night i went out to the forest nerby us. We don't have snow currently, but the sheer sense of emptiness and hopelessness i felt really stuck with me. I took some photos, some long exposures, quite proud of some of them.
Walking alone in the empty forest at night with a flashlight really gave me a sense of groundedness. I felt oddly comfortable, as I've been treading these same paths for the past 18 years, but the possibility of getting executed by boar or deer was still on my mind however. I feel as I'm getting older I begin to see things for what they are, not just the sunny fields and singing birds, but the undead silence of the crushing dark. The woosh of the wind as it sucks out the life out of every living thing. I love the winter. It reminds us of our mortality, and insignificance.
O find these winter landscapes comforting even inviting. There is nothing loud or disruptive. Away from everything. I go to places like this to take a walk every time I get the opurtunity. And it feels great every time.
Born in northern Indiana very familiar with lots of snow and cold weather, it's my favorite time of year hiking in it chopping wood in it looking at it, it's peaceful. But it's very surreal and I love photograph it.
As someone who lives in northern Europe it's interesting to hear you talk about snow and winter since here it's quite expected. You might want to look into Sami people and how interconnected their culture is with snow and also check out some northern european painters since they have also different viewpoint of livibg in the cold and snow etc. But fascinating video, I enjoyed it!
Yeah - it was A GREAT video, I really enjoyed it, but even in the UK (way milder than Finland) we can cope (...sort of...) with snow! A very Texan perspective;)
Seeing such a Texas centric viewpoint on winter makes me feel like a European watching American content. "human beings will have to worry about winter again" Dawg this embodies every Texan I've seen in my home state of Colorado white knuckling the wheel, driving 40mph under the speed limit in light snow.
The crunch of the snow under your footsteps, the utter quietness that makes you reflect on your own tinnitus, the freezing chill of sub-zero temps that freeze your nose hairs with every breath. These things envoke a sense that makes you nourish life in the way one would care for their own body like a Tamagotchi. There is no fear in the one who understands what the environment is trying to tell you.
Humans in northern climes have historically feared winter as a time of death and desolation. If you didn’t store up enough food for the winter you’d starve to death. If you didn’t store enough fuel or had proper clothing or shelter you’d freeze.
You are so removed from nature you have no concept of it.
Sponsor Skip: 11:59
So I’m guessing you didn’t see the “I’m gay and have a little penis” line then.
Seems nobody saw it.
Snow is pretty cool
I went into this with no interest whatsoever in the subject, but I trust your skill and taste. I'm absolutely spellbound.
You are simply one of the best on all of TH-cam, full stop.
Everyone who thinks snow is magical has never been in a city full of snow for more than a week. After that, the snow starts to become beige, then brown, then eventually black.
Only fresh snow is "magical" obviously^^ After it has touched the profane ground for to long it becomes tainted by the world or smth. Thats my attempt to put a poetic spin on it lul^^
Or walked in the forest after months of winter. Each layer of snow is baked by the sun, creating a small ice layer that is then covered up by the next storm. After time, every step needs to lift a foot off the ground because your ankle is destroyed by bulling through layers of ice and fluff.
It can be magical and comforting in certain circumstances. Obviously there is a variety of emotions that can be associated with snow
anyone that love snow has never had to do labor in it or felt the unseeable, unbearable presence in a forest in winters smothering night, just barely out of sight. anyone who hates snow have never experienced the magic of a snowy day with blue sky in the quiet country, a fresh Christmas morning, or the relief of a winter turned gorgeous after weeks of mere cold. Only true understanders of snow know to love and hate it, they respect its crushing silence or its unknowable secrets.
I grew up in Chicago.
Snow is evil and inspires madness.
I live in Yakutsk (the official coldest city on Earth) and a few years ago we had terribly cold winters, when it was below -50C for months. It felt like death was near. This year I see a lot of hair tracks in the forest snow when I go there with my dad and his dog when it's above -25C, it brings me joy every time.
The Terror and The Thing are the only pieces of TV and cinema that capture this cold well, in my opinion. Winter feels like death to me. And I'm lucky to be an animal who lives in a stone box with central heating. The grid failing would be the scariest thing to live through in winter.
If my country was a normal place, I'd invite you here, alas...
“When I'm cold, I can eat meat or throw a cloak on. I spent my whole life in hot places. You can't escape heat.”-Isaac
Bros obviously not felt -40 degrees. Imagine 100 degrees, a hot day and uncomfortable... now imagine 140 and even the air moving past you brings that temperature up even more (wind chill) ... no you CAN escape the heat, underground or within a home. Eventually the sun goes away bringing you the relief of Night, in winter... Night brings death. The temperature drops even lower than it was during the day. And sure eat meat, whatever energy you just got is getting wasted as your body temperature leaks into the environment fighting to warm up everything else besides just yourself. Who ever said this has clearly never seen more than one day of "cold" weather. It's literally impossible to escape the cold because the cold takes from you whatever heat gives. Having to have a fan is not equal to having to have a fire. God damn GO FOR A SWIM IN WINTER I DARE YOU. It's so hot I need to go for a swim, or it's so cold my car won't start. Water lines freeze and break leaving you with even less. Good luck having even hot water for 365 days.
The quote even admits ignorance of only living a single lived experience, so yeah he can't escape the heat cause it is ALL he knows.
@@c_hoffrun7020 no one can escape heat
@brixan... dig a hole. Shade. Water/ocean. Ice ( constantly available with electricity and running water ). If you can't escape the heat, then move to Alaska. Canada. Move north... or is it, heat is a chosen misery while the cold is a lived one? You know, when it's -40, whatever food you eat, how ever many blankets, you lose. Your body dispensed the heat you make to warm up everything else. Take a toll on Summer homes vs Winter homes. How many people run north during the summer? How many from the north run to south in winter? Does swimming in winter sound fun?
@brixan... wtf is a cave then? A sauna turned off? How about night when it's hot it stops being hot, but when it's cold it gets colder? Dude, go camping without a sleeping bag in November in half the world and you die.
From deviant art critic to art, Solar Sands might be my favourite development of any TH-camr. Your videos are the ones you wait to watch and enjoy on the weekend, with a good snack and maybe a nice drink! Thank you
went from looking at furry deviant art posts to extreme inspection of specific types of beautiful paintings. love it
Thank you for making videos and showing captivating art to many who would not normally see them keeping works known keeps the feeling of them alive
One of my favorite examples of winter solitude is Paysage D’Hiver’s self-titled record. It’s literally if you gave these desolate winter landscapes a soundtrack.
I grew up in rural eastern washington.
I know the eerie feeling you get from the dark winter landscapes.
nowadays they don't as much snow, but even 10 years ago it still got dark and cold.
People who hold winter in closer company know to be careful of its false allure. It can offer quiet moments of peace in an otherwise entropic place but there is always the sense of desolation and bitterness, always. The simple act of actually feeling cold and being familiar with it can wholly shift winters whimsical image into something more hostile quickly.
Thank you for coming into this world, gathering your thoughts and these images, documenting it, and putting it out for us to see. This goes for all of your videos. So many time you have captured the depth of how I feel about life and its offerings, and while I instinctively know there are others like me out there and I’ve found a couple, it’s nice when your videos pop up and I remember I’m not as alone as I think I am.
I like the crunch snow makes as you walk on it
I'm glad you have a video covering this, I always felt a draw to the desolate and silent aspect of winter at night. It's always felt otherworldly to me in a mysterious and calming way. One of my favorite memories is walking to work at 4:00am in a huge blizzard where the snow at times was almost up to my waist. It was almost in complete darkness, lit only by the few and fae between dim streetlights that were mostly obscured by the snow. The feeling I got from it was exactly the ones felt in the photos and paintings in this video!
I am lost in thoughts. Man I'm glad this exists. This video essay that is.
Some of my most colorful and mesmerizing amateur photos are taken in the very depths of winter, of a steaming, frozen Great Lake at sunrise. And snow stuck to each and every twig, branch and trunk…I still gasp on those mornings when I first encounter it.
I love winter. Yes there’s plenty of gloom, and I certainly understand seasonal depression. But I’ve grown to appreciate all of it. And beauty is renewed annually - all year round. I will never give up seasons. Especially winter.
The most beautiful things are those that have a fast approaching expiration date/time. Flowers, kittens, babies, sunsets. And funny how humans don’t really make these - the MOST beautiful of things. But Mother Earth. Also with an expiration date.
This was great.
As a Canadian, I find it strange for people to Find the Winter so Alien, I guess that’s just the way it works. The less you experience something the more unreal it feels.
I wonder how Weird it would be for some people to learn I think the Scalding heat of the Summer is just as Alien to me as The winter is to them. I’m confident in my understanding of what it takes to survive winter Wilderness, I am less so In my ability to survive the Heat of the Deep south.
Great video, as always. As a Canadian photographer myself, snowy landscapes are a favourite subject of mine. Sometimes I try to show winter as magical, welcoming, clean and friendly. Other times, I do like to emphasize the quiet, gloomy desolation and contemplative mood that can come with the season. Last night, I was down town photographing Christmas trees and lights in the fresh snow, wanting to post the pictures in time for Christmas. Once, I went out into a wooded area alone, at night, without lights on, and took long exposure pictures in the quiet darkness. In conclusion, winter is a land of contrasts lol.
I have Seasonal Affective Disorder...but I also have a morbid fascination with PHOTOGRAPHS of darkish, bleak, desolate landscapes.
OH GOD ANOTHER BEAUTIFUL AND RESONANT MASTERPIECE UNWORTHY OF HUMAN EYES!!! Great work Solar Sands I wish a billion more views to you and a lovely holiday, be well and do what makes you happy
11:12 so no body gonna talk about the "i'm gay and have a little penis" 😭😭😭
being someone who focuses quite narrowly on music i sometimes forget how truly captivating the visual arts can be, and your videos always remind me. thank you :)
20:33 Not strange at all, brother. I get it
This is probably one of my favourite emotion and atmosphere to experience. Despite its desolate feeling, the calmness it brings is almost addicting...
Great video
Hell yeah new Solar Sands video
this video is one of the best i’ve seen on yt, combining art history with your winter narrative was such a great experience
1:03 snow and ice are magical. People don't hate snow, people hate being forced to drive in it. Another case of capitaliam ruining everything.
They hate the cold, the snow and ice are just there, they are cold yes, but only if you touch them, it’s collateral damage to hate them because you associate them with horrid cold.
Under Communism you would still have a job, get a life
people also hate shoveling through snow to actually get anywhere, you left that part out. oh and the endless car crashes that happen because of ice.
living in a place with plenty of snow for most of the year i hate snow because it’s cold, miserable, wet and dirty, not because i have to drive or shovel. 🫡
Snow is pretty but i really hate it 😭
I’m speechless, one of your best videos! You are amazing at describing these delicate landscapes like I’m in that moment. In Virginia so I don’t get much snow but this perfectly captures the atmosphere. Keep making great videos ❤❤❤
i live in dallas, and whenever theres a freeze my neighborhood always lose power, and it gets so cold that me and my dad make a small fire in our shed to stay warm during the freeze.
I love winter, I love the romance of the holidays as well as the bleak hopelessness of a cold death. I love music that invokes the feeling, as well as paintings like this shown. Last winter I painted a deer, frozen with ribs exposed to get a more solid image of what winter is to me on canvas. Thank you for the great video!
As someone who was born and raised in alaska, i am obligated to click on this video.
I love to go for walks in the winter snow. The show acts as a sounds dampener and makes everything feel closer. The way the snow also reflects the light and makes everything brighter is so enchanting. I love the quiet, stark solitude of snow.
You know, if you've ever been in a forest when there's that much snow, the snow absorbs, like, all of the reverb and ambient noise. The type of ambient noise that you don't even notice because it's always around until you stand in a place like is depicted at 18:00. There, it's so silent, you gain a level of awareness on your surroundings you've never been able to experience in most moments.
He is back
I discovered your channel many years ago. I checked my subs today and there you were! Glad to see you're still making videos man :) Keep it up
I see solar sands I click
I grew up in the snow belt. Winter was a sight to behold. Snow measured not by the inch but by the foot typically. The images of these dark browns and grays of the sky always just reminded me of home when I was abroad. Now that I have returned they have taken on more meaning as I have spent hours witnessing that power of nature first hand while hunting. It’s scene in its own right to stand clad only in leather and wool against an oncoming storm front, the skies fade from gray to brown to black as the snow pushes through the distant horizon on its way to you. Clinging to a rifle, I remember seeing them across the field in the field beyond. A troop moving so quietly and quick. You don’t realize once the snow is falling how silent it is. To see them but not even hear them. I remember steeling my self lifting and leveling. Last chance of the year before hunting season ended. Shook the cold from my limbs, guessed the lead an drop, then bang, the only sound did not echo of the trees, the cold shot landed and I watched a deer tumble into the dead grass and fresh snow. The only words I uttered where “well fuck” as I knew I’d be doing the work right as the storm front hit. But that silence as they ran. That cold cutting through my coat, as I gathered my self. That sky as the daylight was fading. It’s an amazing image I will never forget.