Hi @choas, and welcome to the Qt Dev Net!
The goal is to combine/use existing C++ libraries (photo/image processing) from other projects as part of the business layer in combination with databases.
Since you're going to write lots of C++ code, go with Widgets. Integration will be much easier.
What's with performance, future Qt development etc.?
Widgets have great performance for desktop-style GUIs. Qt Quick's performance shines when you want to do very fancy things like particle animations.
As for the future, Qt Quick is receiving lots of attention, but it cannot fully replace Qt Widgets yet. Widgets will be around for many years to come.
Is the "Widget-way" still actual for desktop or slowly dying?
It's not dying. :) (you'll hear some people say that it's dying because it's not receiving as much attention compared to Qt Quick, but you need to remember that Qt Widgets is a very mature product, that's why it doesn't need as much attention)