iPhoto does not launch when attaching iPhone to MacBook or iMac

I was heading out on vacation and wanted to upload the photos from the Camera Roll on my iPhone to iPhoto on my iMac. I connected my iPhone to the iMac and was surprised that iPhoto did not launch automatically. I then clicked on iPhoto and when it opened it recognized the iPhone and indicated it was "Loading". The problem was it kept "loading" for several minutes and never stopped. When I looked at the Camera Roll folder in the iPhone Photos app, I noticed the Camera Roll folder was empty. (I had previously uploaded all of the photos and deleted them from the camera roll.) I am surprised that the iMac or iPhoto app did not recognize that the iPhone's Camera Roll folder was empty and communicate that to me instead of continuously trying to "load" something that was not there.