AN artist has shunned increasingly compact cameras in favour of photography on a far grander scale.

Sarah Webster, a mixed-media artist, chose a simple and traditional pinhole method to conjure her atmospheric images of the Suffolk coast.

But her cumbersome camera is not for the casual enthusiast, measuring 8ft by 4ft and needing to be towed around on a trailer.

The 25-year-old, who opened her latest exhibition of work at the Old Chapel in Blythburgh today (Saturday, Dec 3), embraces the techniques of yesteryear, plays with exposure and even applies mud collected in the locations she takes pictures to produce eerily distinctive images.

Miss Webster, formerly of Blythburgh but now living in Kirby Cane, near Beccles, said: 'I started doing this at university and it developed from there.

'I get a lot of inspiration from the coast and incorporate mud from each location into the final images.

'It captures the real essence of the place, rather than the picture-postcard image.'

Miss Webster, who attended Southwold's St Felix School and Norwich Art School before earning a fine art degree at Canterbury University, kept her camera in a fishing hut at Walberswick harbour until investing in a trailer in order to move between locations.

The exhibition also includes mixed-media pieces and runs for the next three weekends, from 11am to 3pm.