Carrying the photo date data from my iphone onto my hard drive.

Further online digging, I found a post with an answer, so I came back to post a link to the conversation in the event anyone else finds this thread and needs help. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/252140608?sortBy=best

What date do you see for that image in a Finder window with the setting Finder > View > Show Preview on the right? "Content Created" should show the datetime when the image was taken, and it is the most important date tag for images. But social media sites like Facebook, WhatsApp etc strip off such metadata. File create & modification dates might be the same, but they are quite fragile.

It seems you are looking at the file dates which are prone to change when moving files around, not the internal metadata dates which usually remain intact. So essentially it is OK and there is nothing to fix.

In the Finder if you use the column view you can see the images Capture Date:

All other views show the file's creation date.

I am having the same issue as OP with lost metadata when I transfer my photos off my iPhone 12 mini. I previously used an old MacBook Pro (2014), used Image Capture to an external HD and had no issues. My old computer had to be replaced, so I purchased a Mac Mini and new external SSD for storage. I'm going through the same steps (Image Capture to external storage), but for some reason, the metadata for all pictures imported through Image Capture is the transfer date for everything instead of any date associated with the photos. Would love some help with this if anyone has come across a solution. Thanks.