I needed to purchase a new iMac because my last one was full and rendered it inoperable. I am a photographer and was wondering if there is a way to directly download photos from my camera onto an external drive , while not having them load onto my computer?
iMac 24″, macOS 14.4
You can create a new empty Photos Library on an external drive ( close Photos, option click the Photos icon, and choose Create New from the Library dialog),
designate it as the System Library (in Settings>General)
and connect it to iCloud (in Settings>iCloud)
Whatever is in iCloud will be copied to this new Library. When you take a picture with your iPhone, it will go to iCloud and be copied there. If you load pictures off an SD card to Photos, then they will go to the external Library and be copied to iCloud.
If Richard.Taylor's suggestion about having a Photos library on an external drive doesn't match your needs, you may be able to use the utility Image Capture to copy photos from your camera to the external drives as separate files not in any library (but usually in Finder folders). I say "may" because you don't say what model camera you have; some cameras require special apps to interface.
How to ensure that my photos get downloaded directly to an external hard drive and NOT onto my iMac
