The unrelenting beauty of nature was put into a new perspective for the Wildridge Garden Club Monday night at the Kiwanis Clubhouse in Standish.

Amateur 3D photographer Roger Richmond, a professor of architecture at the University of Maine at Augusta, presented a collection of close-up nature slides that he said we are physically unable to see on our own.

“What I have is a tool that lets you see a different reality,” said Richmond. He said our eyes are too far apart to see some of the extreme perspectives of the world and his 3D slides, which require special glasses to view, shows what he calls “the art of the Earth.”

“I give the view a mouse would see,” he said, adding that the eyes of a mouse are about 11 millimeters apart.

Richmond said his 3D photographs, which he calls macro photographs, do not enlarge his plants and insect subjects, but get closer to them then we could ever get on our own.

In his photographs, which he takes around his home and on distant voyages, everyday flower petals look alien and mysteriously textured, young green plants spring from dry, brittle death and simple raindrops become clinging jewels.

Richmond uses a special camera with two apertures set slightly apart. This produces two different images that are projected on top of each other. He said he uses film because digital images are not detailed enough for what he does.

There are slight differences between the images because they are taken from different angles, and the colored glasses allow each eye to see only one image, making the brain interprets these images in 3D.

Older 3D affects washed the colors of images and made them appear red or blue-green, but Richmond uses a polarizing technique that keeps the colors intact.

Nicole Gleason said she was surprised at how alien the world of plants looked to her.

“It was like seeing a film set,” she said.

Richmond said he likes to show the most poetic images he can find.

“I see this as an art form, and I try to show the beauty of the world,” he said. “If you get anything out of this; just slow down a little.”

3D1: Roger Richmond holds up a double-image slide he displays with a special 3D projector. The two images are displayed together and special glasses allow viewers to see them in 3D.3D2: Roger Richmond explains how his projector creates 3D images in the viewers mind to a Wildridge Garden Club in Standish Monday night.