Dennis Hopper carved out a place in Hollywood history, with roles in classic films like Apocalypse Now, Blue Velvet, True Romance and Easy Rider. He is less well-known, though no less respected, for his work as a photographer. This exhibition brings together over 400 images, taken during one of the most creative periods of his life in the 1960s. Every image you’ll see was chosen by Hopper himself for his first major exhibition in 1970 and is the vintage print he produced for that occasion.

A couple of weeks ago I was very lucky to be invited to a bloggers preview of the Dennis Hopper Lost Album exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts. We were greeted with some delicious strawberry mojitos and it didn’t take long before the room was buzzing with the hubbub of bloggers networking with each other. We were treated to an introduction by the curator of the exhibit who explained how Dennis took up a camera at the encouragement of James Dean and in seven years took over 18,000 pictures, 400 of which were chosen as part of his first major exhibition.

Understandably no photography was allowed within the exhibit but that would spoil the surprise for you anyway. The black and white photographs cover everything from the civil rights movement, to hippy gatherings, brawling biker gangs and fellow actors as well as ordinary people going about their daily lives and provide an interesting insight to life in the 60’s.

The exhibition is open at the Royal Academy of Arts until 19th October and costs £11.50 per adult.