Does the response for MKLocalSearchRequest give you an image for each entry? Or is there a way to get the Nearby places with a place photo ?
A search request returns an array of MKMapItems. Imagery is not part of the metadata included in those objects (you can see all the available information in the class documentation).
If you want to obtain photos you'll need to use some other service or API that provides them, such Foursquare, Facebook, Yelp, etc.