May just be me, but I have never found Adobe Premier Pro and Adobe Photoshop intuitive and stable, yet very expensive.
I would love to find something different that is good for editing photographs. Any suggestions out there based on your experience?
You might try the Google's product Picasa3, it's free and does a good job for minor stuff.
i use Adobe Lightroom 4 for most of my photo work and Photoshop Elements 9 for the few things Lightroom can't do. Both together are cheaper than Adobe Photoshop.
I use Adobe photoshop elements 9/10 also for some minor creative processes like collages and other stuff.
I think I got a $50 rebate on the purchase
Gimp.org It is free. Have never used it myself, but my oldest daughter spends hours and hours every week on it and when I asked if she wanted me to buy her Adobe Photoshop, she said no.