In an effort to showcase Qatar’s landscapes, architecture and people in a fresh light, a local cultural group recently hosted and announced the winners of a spring photography competition that yielded some 8,000 entries.

Residents were invited by See My Doha to capture their favorite Qatar scenes and upload them to Instagram.

Along with featuring a photo of the day, organizers also highlighted 27 entries under the themes “Lines of Doha,” “Colors of Doha” and “Doha in Motion.”

For amateur photographer looked for tips and tricks to capture powerful images, the judges shared several comments on three winning photos:

• In shooting the Pearl-Qatar from the sky, “the added piece of the airplane gives the viewer the illusion that he/she is right up ‘there’ seeing this view and moving above Doha.”
• The new mosque at Education City enables photographers to capture various shapes and lines while maintaining a simple composition. In this particular photo, “By adding the woman to the picture you get a sense of the scale of the building and the great architecture surrounding her.”
• The photo of the building rooftops is framed using the rule of thirds and capitalizes on the scene’s repeating colors and shapes.

Have you taken a great photo of Qatar recently? Add it to our Doha News Flickr pool.

Thoughts?