How can I stop my device open being reset to iPhoto
Image Capture and iPhoto have cache locations to store the status of pictures and camera roll information for each device. It's likely those preferences and databases are corrupt.

If you have a recent backup, you might try quitting the apps and cleaning some of these by moving them to the trash:

~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.Image_Capture*
~/Library/Caches/com.apple.iPhoto/Cache.db

Without emptying the trash you can reboot and test to see that it fixes the issue and doesn't cause other issues before emptying the trash. You can quit the apps and move things back if it causes you issues - but these should be regenerated from a normally working system (and yours is either slightly confused or potentially not working so well)