Staff writer Liam Beran covered the ICE protest in downtown Madison on Jan. 25, the day after protester Alex Pretti was killed in Minneapolis. He took a bunch of photographs that day, and many of the signs people held were literal: “ICE Out” and “Hold ICE accountable.”

But the photo we decided to put on the cover of our print edition this month was less literal: “History has its eyes on you.” While open to interpretation, its message spoke to us, warning of the long-term negative consequences of federal actions today, and the ethical boundaries crossed.

Liam has written many stories for Isthmus since joining the staff in 2024 but this is his first cover photo. He is, however, no stranger to photography. He has been taking photographs since he was a teenager and considers his “interest in documenting visual subjects” his gateway into journalism.

Shortly after high school, Liam spent a summer working as a photographer for a kayak tour company in Door County. Since then he’s done sports photography for UW-Madison’s track club and news photography for The Daily Cardinal and Isthmus.

“I always prefer any time I’m able to bring my camera along with me to a story — taking time to think about potentially compelling visual elements also seems to help with the writing process and figuring out what makes a story unique,” says Liam. “My favorite topics to shoot are street photography, protests and portraits.”

Liams shoots on a Fujifilm X-T5 and uses both a 23mm wide-angle lens and 50mm portrait lens.