Here we are at the height of summer, which, of course, is peak photography season, and the New West photo pool is sloshing over with great summer imagery. Allow me to point you in the direction of a few FLICKR photographers who’ve caught my eye.

First up, Ginger Hatten of Wyoming who goes by the handle Anon Nona. Ginger is a relative newcomer to the New West group and has been showing us some outstanding work. Ginger has developed a very distinctive PhotoShop processing style that is low-key, densely saturated, and richly textured (often with the aid of subtle texture layers). Her images are loaded with emotion—equal parts landscape and landscape of the soul. You can start with her Personal Best set, but start anywhere and you won’t go wrong.

Twenty-year old Trent Davis from the Salt Lake City suburbs has always been a favorite of mine. He’s only been shooting a year and a half, but is already well on his way toward becoming a talented portrait photographer. In his recent portrait work, he’s taken his game up a couple notches and created one of the most beautiful portraits I’ve seen in a while ("Monica", pictured here), and a major FLICKR hit (100+ comments!). He’s also been dabbling in HDR (high dynamic range) images and has produced the coolest images of a washing machine I’ve seen.

I was delighted to see the name Geraint Smith pop up as one of the newest members of the New West group. I first became acquainted with Geraint’s work in last year’s New West Summer Photo Contest in which he nearly won two of the three categories. Geraint has been photographing the American Southwest since 1984, and it shows—his stuff is a cut above. You can see his work on FLICKR or on his personal home page, www.geraintsmith.com.

There aren’t many newspaper photojourmalists on FLICKR, so the New West group is lucky to have Kai Eiselein, editor and photographer for Idaho’s Latah Eagle, among its ranks. As a small town newspaperman, Kai sees both the light and dark sides of the human community. He does great work covering local high school sports and rodeos, and, on occasion, is called on to cover tragedy. Most recently, he posted a series of photos of the aftermath of a deadly shooting in Moscow idaho.

Thanks to all our FLICKR photo pool contributors for sharing their unique visions of the West with us.