One of the things I like doing most with my camera is experimenting with long exposures. There's something compelling in bending time, and seeing what happens to the light that gets captured. Longer exposures means more light, often meaning you can see things that aren't visible to the naked eye. Or, motion becomes visible.
start of day: a 30 second exposure, shot without a tripod. I was riding to campus one morning, extra early because I was facilitating a workshop, and something about the quality of the light caught me. So I pulled the bike over, slapped the XT on top of a cement sign, and popped off a long exposure. The lights were just coming on for the construction site where the EEEL building was being assembled, the sun was just starting to light the eastern sky, and the head and tail lights of cars were bright against the darkness. A fun capture, and something that wasn't the way it seemed.
clix: the "bike blur" photo. only 1/125s exposure, but shot wide open on a bike going about 30km/h, with the camera held low and close to the asphalt. motion becomes exaggerated and time warps.
rush hour: a 15 second exposure of rush hour traffic passing underneath the pedestrian walkway leading from the train station to main campus. Not a single vehicle is actually visible. They disappear in the long exposure, leaving an abandoned arterial route, streaked with ghostly light.
purple tunnel: a 3.2 second exposure of evan walking in the underpass leading from the train station to the zoo. the purple lights actually change colour (they shift through the full spectrum) and the longer exposure makes the details of the tunnel visible, while turning evan into a ghostly figure.
english bay: an 8 second exposure, shot in pitch darkness over english bay, using a driftwood log as a tripod. the waves blur into glassy flatness.
train blur: 1/5 second exposure in bright daylight, from a fast moving train. warp speed!
I've hardly touched the DSLR in the last year, shooting almost exclusively with my iPhone. Being able to mess around with exposure is the biggest thing I miss. I may have to break out the camera again...