"Although he wasn't really a technical beast, he always loved handling a camera and knew how to take a great picture," said Michael Hoppen last night at his gallery's opening of the photographic exhibition celebrating the late, great Hunter S. Thompson.

Boasting rare and unseen shots, both of as well as by the lamented Gonzo writer, the show's lavishly displayed prints put final visual pay to some of the stories and articles that made Thompson one of America's most maverick scribes.

Carefully selected from the Owl Farm vaults by his widow, Anita, and son, Juan, the photos range anywhere from iconoclastic and rough and ready to the downright sublime. 

Effective black and white self-portraits rub shoulders with the beards, greasy jeans and burning Tijuana asphalt of the Hell's Angels.  Meanwhile, prize fishing catches and 70's Vegas strips follow anonymous hirsuite chicks wearing Nixon masks on the toilet and a young (buzz-cut) Hunter passes out at an Air Force party.  All in a good and heady lifetime's worth of work adventure, naturally.

"He was always after the truth, no pussyfooting around," added Hoppen, "and so he remained a bad boy right to the end.  The show's pictures reflect that."

Years in the making, Thompson originally sat down with Ammo Books publisher, Steve Crist, and laid the foundations for what would later form both the exhibition as well as its mammoth accompanying book, simply titled 'Gonzo'. 

So, in keeping with all of Hunter's wishes, an i-Pod playlist comprising his favourites from the likes of Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin and, strangely, Norman Greenbaum's 'Spirit In The Sky', was duly cranked up on full blast for the opening night.

"I asked one of his close friends at the after-party what Hunter would have said if he was there," laughed Hoppen. "She said it was simple: he'd have smashed the front window, thrown out the Tequila in the display, replaced it with a nice bottle of Wild Turkey and then come upstairs and had a great time."

The exhibition runs until 10th March www.michaelhoppengallery.com

'Gonzo' is out now, priced £195, on Ammo Books www.ammobooks.com