Hi, I did this trip last September, very late in the season, at Katmai National Park. By late September most of the fish have passed through the falls so not much chance of getting those "hey, I got that fish" shots of the bears in the falls, but absolutely no one else there but us. The difference with this trip, led by Carl Donohue of Alaska Expeditions, was that we spent five days in the water in full length waders moving around with the bears, who were all very busy eating what Salmon was left. We camped in the campground in tents, very cold and the hot water was not available as we were the last people there for the season and the camp was shutting down. I got wonderful bear shots and it was truly the experience of a lifetime...loved every minute of it, even when I fell into the water and almost dumped all my equipment, “only the Tamron 150-600 lens on the tripod at the time was affected and I had a second long lens along on the trip. Always be prepared. I believe that no one else does this kind of trip but Carl. Of course, there are lodges to stay in (Brooks Lodge is one) and you can go earlier in the season to try for that classic bear catching the fish shot. After the first day I did not bring the tripod any longer, just shot with the 80-400 handheld and sometimes a teleconverter on it. Worked out fine for me. The people with me, all men, did lug their tripods along as well as very high-end fixed long lenses, although by the last day we were all hand-holding our gear. If he stays in a lodge he will be confined to photographing from the two platforms and the roadway/trail (Brooks Falls Trail), and there are many bears in the road at times. One platform (Riffles Platform) looks over the larger mouth of the river and one looks over the falls (Falls Platform). The shooting area is very limited and I've heard very crowded at Brooks Falls during the peak season. There was a lot of water last year to wade into and around in! I've included a couple of pics so you can show him a few things. It all depends on what kind of trip you want to have. I'd recommend this trip if you are adventuresome, daring, and not too finicky about things....the food was fantastic: I wanted to take the cook home so I could eat good there, too. Two of the guys on this trip are going again this year, may be there right now in fact.