Yes! There is an OSS implementation of (parts of) the proprietary protocol for USB communication to iTunes so you can indeed get your photos. I say parts because some functionality is not implemented, like the offline backups feature.
Note though that with only one apple device, you won't have access to to icloud if your device is stolen or you get locked out because you forgot your pin or similar. If I log in to icloud on my laptop, I first have to confirm it on a linked device... if you only own one device if that device is linked you thus can't use Find My, remote locking or similar. See also: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34407087
https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/IOS