Some people do not like how Photos takes over their image collection and leaves little say in how they are managed. If you want to use something other than Photos to import and store your pictures, you will need to take control of what happens when you plug your device in to the Mac. Here’s how to do it:
You will have to plug in the device and let Photos open once. Go to the Import tab. In the upper left you will see a checkbox to have Photos open when the device is plugged in.
Remove the checkmark for the device.
Next, you will need to go to the Applications folder and open Image Capture. If you have a few devices to change, you may want to add it to the Dock for a while. When you open Image Capture, you should see your device listed. Highlight it and then look to the lower left of the screen for a small box. Click this box to reveal a menu. In here you can select another application to open, or none at all. Just to the right is a spot to select what folder the images go to when they are imported. The likely destinations are listed there. If you choose Other . . . you can browse to any folder on your computer and select it.
Now you are in control. Enjoy!