As part of a course assignment, journalism students at Northwestern University in Qatar were recently tasked with taking a closer look at Doha by photographing local buildings, places and icons that they thought best represented the country.

The resulting images range from traffic snarls to silhouettes of people at Qatar’s numerous beaches to close-up views of Souq Waqif’s controversial animal souq.

Speaking to Doha News, Wajeeha Malik, an international student who hails from Pakistan, explained how the project helped her explore the country.

“It made me appreciate how beautiful Qatar is, and I got to experiment with landscape photography…This was the first time I actually went on a proper photographic expedition around Qatar…I (also) finally got to see Katara at sunset, which was…very surreal and peaceful.”

For others, like Lebanese national Reem Saad, the project gave her a way to document the beauty of the country she was born in:

“I got to photograph some of my favorite areas, and share my memory and history of these places with students from all over the world.”

However, as in the past, the students faced challenges while photographing in many locations in Qatar.

“(We had) the usual problem…having to be careful not to offend anyone by accidentally pointing the camera at them,” said Malik, adding that other challenges included finding the right light to shoot outdoors and navigating the extreme heat.

What images come to your mind when thinking about Qatar? Thoughts?