inspirational photo challenge, entry two - the girl's cat

Hey! Guess what? I remembered. Yes, I remembered to continue with my photo challenge that I created. (see here to read about the challenge, if you haven't) Exciting, isn't it?
Today, my inspiration was this beautiful photo:

via

And...
Here is mine:

OK, so I know. It is not even close to as good as the photo above. It's really what they call a sad attempt. So sad...haha...maybe someday I'll be able to hire a blonde model, find some cute fluffy Tabby cat, get a blue and white (not grey and black) stripy shirt, and give it another shot.
But, hey, at least I attempted.
Our Siamese cat, Hartford, was not amused. In other words, I'm sure she wanted to kill me. And my sister, Grace (the model) didn't want to do it either. But in the end, I did manage to get something. 

I would call the photo itself a fail, but I'm happy that at least I got my act together, and did it.
Don't worry, next week will be better, I'm sure.

Your thoughts?

Challenging myself to take more photos...

I've realized that I have not been posting a lot of photos lately, or, not my own photos. And I was looking at two of my boards on Pinterest today, (here, and here), admiring the amazing ideas and photography, when I decided what I'd challenge myself to do...

...here's an example.

On my Beautiful Inspiration board, I had pinned this:

My thoughts when I see pictures like this and others similar, are: Oh my goodness, so beautiful, wish I could take pics like that.
Then it occurred to me, and don't laugh because it took awhile (I can be so slow). I can take pics like that (or similar). So, I have challenged myself to do a blog post with every week with a picture I was inspired by (from Pinterest) and a picture that I take, my own pic.
For this week, the inspiration is the pic above. Here, below, is the inspired pic, my own pic.

So...what do you think? Those birds swoop around our house often, and make spirals in the air, working together. They are amazing.
The mountains in the background are called the Hottentots Hollands here in Somerset-West, South Africa, and are a part of our view. I took this picture this morning, on our veranda, with my iPhone 4S. Then, I sent it to myself, and edited it in Photoshop CS2. 

Here is the pic that has only been edited by my iPhone:

It was a lot of fun, arranging this challenge for myself. It's going to be even more fun, going through with it. I'll take inspirational photos from my board, and try and shoot one similar, but with my own photographer skills. I don't think I'll push myself to get it 'exactly' the same, just try and make it similar. 

Wish me luck, and remind me to get it done every week! I think I'll call it my Inspirational Photo Challenge, so, if you're interested to follow me as I do it, just look for the post titles that say something like that.

P.S. I don't know how long I will be doing this for...I might stop abruptly, and then continue after awhile...I just want to try it, and so I will. ♥♥♥