“Through the Photographer’s Lens: Historic Downtown Bangor,” through Nov. 30 at the Bangor Public Library. For information, call 945-4400, Ext. 211.

The light plays tricks on Bangor. Sometimes, the downtown looks like any other in Maine, its Main Street lined with brick buildings and plate-glass storefronts. But when the sun hits it just right, something magical happens. The bricks glow in the soft afternoon light. The grand old homes stand a little taller. And the Kenduskeag Stream and Penobscot River sparkle like a sapphire necklace that wraps itself around the city.

The photographs on exhibit in the Lecture Hall and stairway of the Bangor Public Library show the city in its best light.

For the juried show, a group of amateur and professional photographers captured slices of life in the Queen City. The photos meld old and new as gracefully as the city does. In the stairwell, where the judges’ work is displayed, Bangor Daily News photographer Bob DeLong shows a collection of old, black-and-white photographs from the NEWS archives. These share space with University of Maine professor Alan Stubbs’ surreal-looking portrait of a long-vacant mill, the mossy floor glowing green below a leaky skylight.

On a separate wall, a series of pictures by Bill Kuykendall, a photojournalism professor at UMaine, documents life downtown, whether it’s a grinning counter man at the Phenix Inn or fallen leaves floating in the West Market Square fountain. On the surface, they show people and places, but a closer look reveals more – the personality and beauty present in everyday life.

The juried work is on view upstairs in the Lecture Hall. Among the photos are Edwin Martin’s black-and-white depictions of the old Water Works building, which took first place in the Evoke the Past category, and Kenton Williams’ nighttime cityscapes, which took first place in the Celebrate the Past category.

Williams’ scenes show a downtown in motion. In time-exposure photos, taillights streak through the streets like a red comet’s tails and streetlights shine like little suns. In “Independence Day 2001,” fireworks burst in the sky, but the real glow comes from the city itself.

In contrast, Martin’s works have an old-fashioned feel, most notably his starkly telling picture of an empty, open safe housed in one of the Water Works buildings. Through motionless gears and crumbling bricks, Martin gives a lonely, haunting view of a Bangor landmark.

John Wentworth’s “River and Rails” gives a wonderful juxtaposition. Though he works with the same subject, his picture has a totally different feel. In brilliant color, train tracks snake around one of the buildings, which stands out against a sky that almost looks fake with its fluffy, cotton-ball clouds. The river gleams in the background and the trees in the foreground look green enough to burst.

Youth entrants Lucia Fenney and Sarah Bigney give a fresh view of the city. Fenney’s “Reflections Past to Present” is timeless, showing Main Street reflected in a tall, glass storefront in black and white. In color, her foreshortened view of a fire escape is enticingly dizzying in “Stairway to Heaven.” In “Expression and Artwork Line the Streets,” Bigney focuses on a lamppost downtown covered in scribbled names and messages. The buildings behind seem like an afterthought, while the writing on the post tells the real story.

Much of the show focuses on Bangor’s stunning architecture. Mike Pullens’ “186 Exchange Street” and “Pearl Building,” are sharp studies in contrast and geometry, showing the city’s sunlit facades in an almost painterly fashion. Michael Johanning looks to the rooftops, framing the sandy-colored curve of the old Merchants Bank building on West Market Square.

Lori Krupke gives a different view, setting dead roses and bullets against the Brady Gang marker downtown in “Ultimate Depravity.” She takes a sunnier focus in “The Light of Day,” which portrays nine of the city’s more striking windows.

Spiros Polemis also was drawn in by windows, but perhaps his most intriguing work is “Storefront, 202 Exchange Street,” which turns a vacant shop into something beautiful. Neither time nor neglect can fade the elegance of the building’s lines, and Polemis captures this simply in black and white.

Rebecca Krupke blurs the lines with “Reflections on an Artist’s Canvas,” a swirl of red bricks and blue sky reflected in rippled water. In Brent Veysey’s tinted photographs, the buildings at Central and Harlow streets jump out against an electric blue sky. His “City Hall Handrail,” smooth and weathered to a green patina, looks at once antique and thoroughly modern.

The same could be said of Cody LaRusso’s “Love Blooms in Bangor.” The blurry, portrait-lens look gives the photo a romantic, nostalgic feel to the young couple, surrounded by a flurry of pink blossoms falling from a tree in West Market Square.

In Buffy Parker’s peaceful black-and-white graveyard photos, time stands still. In “Together,” the headstones of a couple huddle side-by-side in the background as the sinewy roots of a tree stretch out like a hand in the foreground. Lichens aside, this photo could’ve been taken 100 years ago or just last week.

This blend of past and present – coupled with the talent of the photographers – is what makes this show so appealing. Through their lenses, old and new, light and shadow, silly and somber come together in a mix that captures the heart and spirit of Bangor.

The judges awarded the following photographers for their work: In the category “Evoke the Past,” first place, Edwin Martin; second place, Buffy Parker; third place, Brent Veysey. In the category “Celebrate the Present,” first place, Kenton Williams; second place, Spiros Polemis; third place, Cody LaRusso. In the youth category, first place, Sarah Bigney; second place, Lucia Fenney.

Art notes

. “A Brouhaha of Ritualistic Marks,” a series of prints by Claire Rau, will be on view at Caf? Nouveau on Hammond Street in Bangor through Dec. 2. This show incorporates a variety of Rau’s work, from the serene black-and-white print of a point on Hilton Head Island, S.C., to her bright, swirly, more abstract “Sea Cave” monotypes. For information, call Caf? Nouveau at 942-3336.

. A. “Rod” Rodrigues has a new exhibit of photographs on view at By Design, on Harlow Street in Bangor. Rodrigues specializes in reflections and shadows, and this show samples from a wide range of his work in Maine and abroad. For information or gallery hours, call 947-0077.