Transfer photos from mac to iPhone

I have thousands of photos on my mac categorised in different folders. I wanted to transfer those photos to my iPhone and be able to edit / delete it (I want them to be added to my library / recents album). I also wanted them to keep their folder organisation (turn the folders into albums). I've tried several methods:

1. Using finder to transfer photos - This method transfers the photos into albums perfectly, but then i am not able to delete or edit them. I can only remove them by "unsyncing" again from my mac, but then this removes all the photos.
2. Using airdrop - This method will transfer the photos but i am unable to keep it organised (i have to go to each folder and airdrop the files as i cannot airdrop folders)

One of the solutions i found online was to use iCloud, but currently i am not looking for a cloud service, and my photos library exceeds the free storage capacity.

Pls help, how can i do this?