I didn't like the complexity of Photoshop when I started using it. Its kind of like a game where you have to learn a zillion rules and control buttons before you can play it well. I used Corel Draw / Paint and Micrografix Picture Publisher before PS, but they started becoming less automated and headed towards the complexity of PS, so I decided to just learn it.
Now I love it and every other program looks lame next to it. PS gives you more control over every element than any other program I've seen. Its fun once you just take the experimental attitude with it. Try different tweaking here and there and see what you get from an image.
I use CompuPic Pro for my image management software. Its the best I've found for that function.
http://www.Photodex.com