Can no longer upload photos from iPhone to iMac

I suspect this very serious problem has been intentionally caused by Apple and that Adobe will not be able to help, but I just posed this question to an Adobe Lightroom forum. I pose it here, in the hope someone might have an answer:

What used to be simple has turned into a nightmare. Just as I do with my professional Canon gear, I used to plug my iPhone into my computer daily, upload the images into Lightroom and catalog them. Awhile back, I hit a point where this sometimes worked and sometimes wouldn't. I did not like iPhoto at all, but to get the images out of my phone and into my computer I sometimes used it. Then, in the process of upgrading all-around (Lightroom, OS, IOS) I eventually found myself unable to ever upload from phone to Lightroom. Lightroom shows my iPhone, spends a lot of time spinning the little dial, then gives me a message that there are no photos in the phone.

Worse yet, Apple has now replaced iPhoto with Photo. Photo does the exact same thing. I cannot download my photos from my iPhone at all. If I recall correctly, the same thing happened the last time I tried to upload into iPhoto before Apple replaced it. I have a 128 GB and it is nearly full.

I have a feeling this is Apple's doing and that I am going to have to get on the phone with them and pay them to help me find away around the problems they have caused, but before I do I want to check and see if anyone else has encountered this problem, solved it and how?

Thank you!