how to IMPORT just photos into itunes

I haven't been able to backup my iPhone in over a year. I have over 2,000 photos that I'm trying to get off of my phone. I've tried deleting many of them, but there are many more photos and videos that I want to save. I used to import them into Picasa, but I'm now getting error messages. I can't figure out how to import them into itunes. Every time I hook it up, itunes tries to put more photos on my phone or (conversely) doesn't do anything to them if I uncheck all the boxes. I need to know how to IMPORT them into itunes and delete them from my phone without backing up everything else. i think this may be the hold up on my ability to backup, synch and install the OS4 update, which I still have not been able to do. Please HELP!!