I'll use the "B" word that makes parents shiver:

BRACES!

Nice work. My favorite is the pinecone frieze above the double windows.

Sorry. My fault for reacting so strongly. It's just my really strong reaction to the way the man/woman looked, and my concern for how my high school female students would perceive the photo.I can't be a photographer first in this situation. Sorry to get us off-topic.

Wow! A photo of a woman with hollow cheeks, worried expression on her face, eyes that look blackened, general emaciated look to her, and it's a man masQuerading as a woman. Does our society have any love of the female gender? If I show this photo to my teenaged daughter, there will have to be a bit of talk about why our society seems to want to starve and beat women.
The concept is interesting; but the reality is disturbing.

One more idea: Why don't you get a 50 mm 1.8 and work the hell out of it? Can it possibly do what you want it to? Try it in manual, and change up the ISO, the shutter speed, the aperture all over the place. And if it doesn't perform, you're out $100 or $200. Then how about a 35 mm or an 85 mm? Can you really bump up your performance with one of those before you spend the big bucks?
It's nice to have great gear, but it's trippy to know you have sharpened your skills with what you have. Good luck!

Nice! You do a lot better job of focusing on the faces than I do. I seem to get stuck focusing on the uniform numbers with the face just a little out of focus. It is not easy for me to remember to stay focused on the face. Nice shot.

Can you stand on the endline? Much better images there with them coming towards the basket, rather than the players running side to side. I shoot with a D3100, 85 mm f/1.8 lens, on shutter priority, usually about 250 or 400. Expect to get a 1 good image in every 5.
Keep shooting, and follow the team out of town. Some gyms have better lighting. Most don't, which is why they are nicknamed things like the Snakepit and the Barn.

Make sure you video your dissection and stick it on YouTube. It could go viral.
Blind us with science!

I feel the creepy crawlies after viewing your photos. Super!
I'm starting to see the attraction of macro. Hope I can avoid the addiction.

One reason I like teaching photo so much is it's so easy to show the link between altering your thinking and creating something new and far more meaningful.
I realized that when I took an eye-level shot of my toddler for the first time. I thought to myself: "I am never going to shoot this kid from adult-level again." And, I have shots I still love to look at 15 years later.
I tell my students to shoot, think a little differently, and shoot again. It makes a world of difference.
It helped with my depression issues, too. Good luck!

You can learn a lot by scouting the internet for other people's photos. Both of your photos could be improved by a different angle on your horse -- one where the horse had a little room to "run" in the photo and wasn't bumping up against the edge of the photo. I also think an angle that shows both eyes of the horse but also some of its flank -- the 45º angle. And that won't cost anything. Still I vote for the Nikon d3100.

Another vote for the Nikon D3100 -- excellent color images with little work, and since I began experimenting with the manual mode, things get sharper and sharper.

Yay! All those people who have enormously expensive cameras with terribly costly lenses at sporting events but take all photos on Auto will now have somewhere else to spend their excess cash: monthly payments for software they can't be bothered to learn to use.
This grab for the cash seems terribly shortsighted on the part of Adobe, but this is how they get their name in front of everyone.
1. Publicize a stupid business decision.
2. Watch as everyone reacts negatively to poor decision.
3. Retract poor decision with unconvincing apology.
4. Congratulate team members on free publicity. Collect stock options.

A. Number 2 is my favorite. It shows that little kid skin nicely. B. Number 3 could be improved by going vertical. (My tombstone will read "Go Vertical!") That way we could see the bunny thing she is holding.
C. I agree that Number 1 has a "hot window." Get your model away from the window, or wasn't she working with you that day?
D. Count your blessings that you have that sweet little kid in your life.

Wonderful twist on leading lines where the lines are coming from above. I love the orange and blue contrasting colors. Very satisfying!