import doesn't show progress indicator

Hi my iphone is connecte to my mac mini by usb cable. If I tell the mini to restart it says iphoto is importing photos, go to iphoto cancel the import and retry the restart. iphoto doesn't show any progress indicator, or cancel button that I can see for an import. I do have 274 new photo's I'd like to get into the library, if I click Import 274 photo's a dialog says photos are being imported to the phot library please wait for the import to complete. and then only an OK button on the dialog.

That's been that way for an hour, need to have that iphone so I can get on with my day, but unsure if I can go to something like itunes to umount the phone and not end up breaking things more then they appear to me to be broken. Advice?