John Deakin’s bohemian portraits of the inhabitants of London’s Soho in the 1950s and early 1960s takes the spotlight in a new exhibition at The Photographers’ Gallery.

Under The Influence: John Deakin and the Lure of Soho highlights just how impactive the scene was on the photographer’s creative output, each penetrating image capturing a glimpse into the lives of characters and celebrities who frequented the likes of fabled Dean Street drinking den The Colony Room at the time.

The exhibition invites a face to face encounter with the likes of writers (and surely drinking buddies) Dylan Thomas, Daniel Farson and Jeffrey Bernard, painters Lucian Freud, Frank Auerbach and Francis Bacon and Deakin’s muse and model Henrietta Moraes. Indeed, Moreaes’ hedonistic lifestyle encapsulates the vicarious side of the lives lived by the rich, famous and downright eccentric creatives who swam the at once shimmering and murky depths of Soho’s underground scene.

Deakin’s own boozy lifestyle lingers here, and his legacy – sacked from Vogue twice yet enduring regardless as an acclaimed fashion photographer – still reverberates at a high frequency for lensers rising today.

Under The Influence: John Deakin and the Lure of Soho runs until 3rd July at The Photographers’ Gallery, 16-18 Ramillies St, London W1F 7LW.

The exhibition is accompanied by the publication Under the Influence: John Deakin, Photography and the Lure of Soho, published by Art / Books in association with the John Deakin Archive and The Photographers’ Gallery, available now from Art / Books.