Apple Devices

I'm looking for help accessing my brother's iPhone and MacBook. He passed away suddenly and we don't have his passwords. We have his apple ID but that's it. Apple support hasn't been able to help. I've been told that no way can you get on an iPhone unless you erase it. We don't want to lose all of his pictures. He wasn't a techie, he didn't use the cloud. Is there anything we can do?