TRIBUTES have been paid to one of the region’s most respected photographers, who has died suddenly at the age of 54.

Kippa Matthews worked from York for some 35 years, as a freelance news photographer as well as an artist.

His pictures of a wide and diverse range of subjects were seen in newspapers around the world.

His grieving partner, Haley Capon, said she would miss him terribly. “He was my soulmate,” she said.

His shocked friends and colleagues also paid tribute.

Fellow journalist Jon Hill said: “He was such a talented photographer but perhaps more importantly than that, he was a great bloke. Those who worked with him would always relish the twinkle in his eye.”