Photos stuck on preparing with Airdrop OR long delay with image capture loading new photos

I use my iPhone for work, I take 200-300 photos then transfer to my iMac. Over the past few years Airdrop would get stuck on preparing, or if I tried to use image capture it would take a really long time for the new photos to show up, 20-30 minutes before I could select all the new photos to transfer (I can watch the new photos show up one at a time, about 10-30 seconds between each photo).

But - if I take the photos and wait a couple hours, I can often use Airdrop without issue and image capture (or the photos app) will instantly recognize the new photos.

I've experienced this with iPhone 10s, iPhone 12 mini, and now iPhone 15. The issue is the same with 2013 Macbook pro, 2014 iMac 5k, and 2020 iMac 5k.

I think I've tried every setting possible, but could be be overlooking something? I don't think I'm a common use case, I doubt many people take several hundred photos and try to transfer them immediately, but if you're like me, have you run into this issue can come up with any solutions? Waiting for a couple hours or transfering less than 21 photos at a time with airdrop are my work arounds. Did something change a few years ago with the way iPhone handles photo files?