When you build locally, you should also ensure you build and flash the latest system firmware so that the versions match.
Locally, system firmware is at version 2, so the user app you build will also be at version 2. Yet your photon only has version 1 system firmware, so the user app will not run. (The system version has to be at least that of the user version in order to be sure it is compatible.)
To build system firmware, put your photon in DFU mode and run:
cd modules
make PLATFORM=photon clean all program-dfu
This will build everything and flash it to your device, and ensure system and user firmware versions are consistent.