Show an ajax loader while loading an image??

why doesn't this work

$("#color_update").change(function(){
		 var src = $("option:selected", this).val() ;
		  var src2 = $("#quantity_update option:selected").text();
		   $('#imagePreview').html('<p><div id="ajaxLoader" align="center" ><img src="ajax-loader.gif" width="32" height="32" /></div></p>');
		  $('#imagePreview').load('<img src="'+src+"-"+src2+'.jpg"/>');
			alert(src+"-"+src2+".jpg");
	});

Code (markup):

just using

  $('#imagePreview').html('<img src="'+src+"-"+src2+'.jpg"/>');

Code (markup):

works

Can only a page be loaded and not an image directly???