Off-stage, he ate alone, brooded, read fan mail and was devoted to his mother, even with the adoring screams of thousands in his ears.

If you weren't a fan of Elvis Presley before, you will be after seeing the latest show at the National Portrait Gallery, a series of photographs taken when the singer was 21 and on the cusp of stardom.

It was 1956 and photographer Alfred Wertheimer, himself just 26, accepted a commission from record label RCA Victor to record the tour of an up-and-coming white boy from the south.

What the young photographer ended up capturing was a crucial turning point in the singer's career. The year began with lonely meals and a smattering of fans at the stage door and ended with police escorts as Elvis made his way through hordes of screaming fans on his way to perform.

Wertheimer took 2500 images of Elvis that year, before the two parted ways, and few of them were seen until the singer died two decades later at 42.

Wertheimer recently worked with the Smithsonian museum in Washington to develop Elvis at 21, an exhibition that is an intimate look at a young man poised for greatness and a study of stardom yet untouched by tragedy.

Now, the show has brought Elvis to Australia, a place he never visited. The gallery's associate registrar, Maria Ramsden, said the exhibition was likely to bring many Elvis fans out of the woodwork.

''Even if you're not [an Elvis fan], this is an amazing photography exhibition, it's beautiful,'' she said.

''Alfred had an amazing technique. He was able to get very, very close to Elvis and I think that shows in the shots that he took.''

Wertheimer was able to capture the beauty and vulnerability of the young singer, as well as his stage presence and the effect he had on audiences in the straight-laced '50s.

''When I look at this exhibition, it's not necessarily an exhibition about Elvis - it's an exhibition about two artists who met and spent a few days together and obviously enjoyed each other's company,'' Ms Ramsden said.

''The result is some amazing photographs.''

■ Elvis at 21: Photographs by Alfred Wertheimer is showing at the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra until March 10.