Let me back up and describe the exact process - I can see how I made it confusing by mixing platforms and storage etc.
It started when I was at an exhibit at the museum. I want to use Agenda to memorialize the visit including using photos of peieces. Rather than take the photo with the regular camera and importing it into the note I decide to take the photo while in the note. That’s all works fine. Some of the photos I decide I’d like to put into my photos app so using the share sheet I choose save image and this crashes the app. That’s the iphone version. Ios 12.
OK so then I get home and open my MBP. All the photos and notes have synced to Agenda on the mac. I then try to save the image to photos on the Mac. This time it doesn’t crash but it shows in a new folder in the photos app called “Unable to upload to iCloud.” So the photo is in the photos app but only locally. These photos do not appear anywhere else in the apple storage world.
I hope that explains it better.