Here are two ways to import SOME photos into iPhoto:
1. Import ALL photos into iPhoto, but tell it to leave them in the camera. Then delete the photos you don't want within iPhoto.
2. In your Applications folder is a program named Image Capture. Quit iPhoto and launch Image Capture. Turn on your camera. Image Capture can capture photos just as iPhoto does, but it will (a) let you select which photos to import and (b) put the resulting files in a folder on the disk.
Once the import is done, turn off the camera, quit Image Capture, launch iPhoto, and drag the folder of selected photos into your Library.