Book Jacket opinion

I have been using Photoshop for a few years now but have only ever used it for personal-use. I want to expand now on that and have created a profile on 2 different design bidding sites. I need to create a portfolio but at this point, have nothing to put in it. I found a link for different projects to put in a portfolio at about.com and the first is a book jacket makeover. Below I have provided the link to the original book jacket and then my version of it (sorry, it won't allow me to insert image). My original idea was to put a male walking down a dirt path and on one side of the road, the weather be bright and sunny, and the other side, stormy with maybe lightning or rain. I had a really difficult time doing that and this is what I ended up with. Not nearly dramatic but my best attempt. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. I want to post these projects as designs for a portfolio so I need them to look good.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/61514518@N06/5597609669/

Description of the project parameters (if interested, you don't have to read all this) : For the second printing the author and the publisher want something a little bit fresher, brighter. The book contains poetry written by the 55 year old author (born 1948) from about 1960 to 1990. The poetry itself covers everything from personal feelings about smoking pot in college, the birth of his first child in 1981, and shoveling snow to how he was affected by various world events including the explosion of the space shuttle Challenger.
My Life is a Poem is a mix of happy, sad, angry, and just plain ordinary events and observations by a self-described borderline hippie who has lived all over the US but calls the New England States home even when living part of the year in a Colorado ski lodge or on an Indian reservation in Oklahoma.

 

Here's the deal sky, sky, sky, sky. The sky will be the maker , mother nature was surprised being half sun half stormy , start from that . The enhance the drama add more kick to the storm . After that you can use an identical landscape or you can use one that's sunny and another that's suffered days of rain . Don't forget to add a few rain drops(realistic not cartoonish ) in freefall . And the guy needs more detail and send him deeper in the perspective .

 

the color scheme could be better and the typography on the front cover. Its a good start, but not quite there yet.