Since 2004, New Mexico-based photographer Susan Hayre Thelwell has spent her free time working on a personal project about her family of Christian conservatives who run a goat ranch in West Texas and their Muslim customers in New Jersey who buy the goats for the halal market (halal refers to meats prepared in accordance with Islamic dietary law). She has photographed the people and animals of “the canyonlands of the Trans-Pecos region where I was raised,” and the people who transport the live animals to the East Coast to be butchered.

The project, "Mitchell's Lot," isn’t complete, but Thelwell decided to bring 20 of her images to the PhotoNOLA portfolio review  “to share my work and generate interest in what I have been working on in a solitary way” and get feedback.

Michelle Molloy, photo editor at Newsweek, looked through Thelwell’s images to see how best to tell the story. She likes the story "Mitchell's Lot" tells, "as the journey of the goats bring forth a connection between two cultures. I like the idea, as the journey is not something I would normally think about even though as a New York City resident, the word ‘halal’ is not an unfamiliar one.”

Molloy says, “I think the work has a lot of potential, it just needs some refining. There is a mix of beautiful, dreamlike imagery which are rather potent, sprinkled with some straight on journalism. Having had time to think about the work further, I am thinking that it would be good to narrow the focus, lean more towards the more lyrical, dreamlike imagery and continue to tell the story in that way.”

Molloy offered feedback on specific images, pointing out to Thelwell which images she felt were the strongest in her edit (see slide show). Molloy also gave the photographer ideas for what other subjects she could photograph to complete the story.

“I would like to see the interaction of Susan’s father and the Muslim trader he deals with. Susan talks about a colorful exchange between the two”—in which they shared a meal and prayed together –“but does not have any visual evidence of the meeting. I also would like to see something of the actual transport of the goats, as I did not feel that was apparent in the work.”



She also suggested other photographers Thelwell might want to see, because they are working in a similar vein. “I mentioned to Susan she might enjoy Andrea Modica’s work, but did not get to bring up Alessandra Sanguinetti’s ‘On the Sixth Day.’ I also mentioned that she might find Teru Kuwayama’s work interesting, not content wise, but his visual approach.”

Thelwell says she appreciated Molloy's enthusiasm. "She even mentioned my work to other reviewers .. and they came by to visit me and to see the work during the Portfolio Walk after the reviews the first day."

She says hearing how the reviewers talked about the project helped her speak more clearly about her goals.  She adds, "More than contacts, I made connections with some amazing people who were generous with both their time and support of the work and who asked me to stay in touch."

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