Yes, your screen shot shows a project that has been selected from the project browser view.
So, I am not quite clear as to what is your concern. If you want to crop in the view you get when you press 1 on your keyboard, you need to put the photos into an event and then open the event to display the photos in the media browser. You can do the same thing in your regular project view, displayed in your last screen shot, without the necessity of pressing 1.
You can only crop photos that are actually in the iMovie system (library). They must be photos that are in the timeline or in events or in Project Media. You cannot crop media browser photos that are referencing Photos app photos that are not yet in the system. When you press 1 on your keyboard you are not displaying an iMovie project. There is no timeline and no Project Media item in the sidebar. With the Photos item selected, you are shown a view without a project timeline or project media, but only photos that are still referenced in the Photos app. Those photos cannot be cropped, so the crop tool is grayed out. To display any photos that could be cropped you would need to click on one of the events displayed under the iMovie library heading in the sidebar. Doing that would display photos in the media browser that are actually in the iMovie system (library) and thus could be cropped. When you select one of the photos displayed from and event, the crop tool would show as activated. As I said above, you could do the same thing in the normal project view without the necessity of pressing 1 on your keyboard.
-- Rich