MEET the man who took the amazing photos of the Northern Lights in York last night (November 3).

Paul Mortimer, 58, has lived in York all his life and runs a tattoo studio in Osbaldwick.

As The Press reported earlier, he was out at about 10.30pm and spotted the light show low in the sky.

Paul said he has been fascinated with the aurora ever since he saw his first one on a trip to Norway and the Arctic circle back in 2016. Now he and wife, Hilary, regularly go out to Iceland to photograph the magical spectacle and document it on their Instagram page: thefearlessaurorahunters.

Paul said: “Never ever in my wildest dreams did I expect to see them in York. They were just amazing.”

He took his photos away from the city light pollution alongside the A59 at Hessay.

Paul, who runs Mortz Tattoo and lives in the Leeman Road area of the city said: “I have an App that gives you live updates and I could see the aurora was happening, and when I looked out of the window I could see all the stars.

“I knew I had to find somewhere where I could get a clear few away from the lights. I was driving along the A59 when I spotted them and pulled over.

“With the human eye what you need to look out for is a peppermint whitish arch low to the ground beneath The Plough. When you photograph it the colours stand out.”

Paul used an SLR camera to take his shots as some phone cameras aren’t good enough to capture the full range of colours at night.

He has just returned from a trip to Scotland at the weekend where he went to Bellhaven, Dunbar to witness Saturday nights solar flare activity.

He joined photographers who gathered from all over the UK to watch and capture the spectacle on camera.

The lights, or Aurora Borealis, appears when atoms in the Earth’s high-altitude atmosphere collide with energetic charged particles from the sun.