An easy way to import photos is by using Image Capture. Not new to macOS, the feature may be overlooked by Mac newcomers. In Image Capture, you can import all of your camera’s photos at once, directly to the folder of your choice, or you can pick and choose which photos store on your Mac while you decide whether to keep or delete the originals. You can also connect wirelessly to a scanner to import scanned documents or photos to the directory of your preference, and can link your camera to the macOS application of your choice. So if you want Photoshop to open when you connect your iPhone, Image Capture can be configured to do so.
I use image capture for all my iOS device imports. You can also delete the images securely after backing them up.