30 Years of Photojournalism In The Berkshires

Ben Garver joined the Berkshire Eagle as a photojournalist in 1995. Thirty years and more than a million photographs later, he retired in 2025. In this episode, Garver walks us through what it actually takes to shoot spot news, the emergencies, accidents, and breaking stories that don't wait for a photographer to be ready, and what that work has done to him over three decades behind the camera. He recounts photographing convicted killer Adam Hall in 2011, an assignment that left him visibly shaken. He also looks back on covering Governor Charlie Baker's pandemic-era visit to Pittsfield, along with memorable encounters with former Governors Jane Swift and Paul Cellucci. The conversation turns to Pittsfield's urban renewal era and how the city has changed physically and culturally since. We close by talking about the shifting landscape of local media, integration of AI, and what three decades in the field taught him about how journalism itself has transformed.