Gets a Gravitar image and returns the image as a 64bit string, or null if there is no image available

getGravitarImage.cs

void Main()
{
	Console.WriteLine(getGravitarImage("[email protected]"));
}

string getGravitarImage(string email)
{
  	MD5 md5hasher = MD5.Create();
  	byte[] data = md5hasher.ComputeHash(Encoding.Default.GetBytes(email.Trim().ToLower()));

  	StringBuilder builder = new StringBuilder();

  	foreach (var i in data)
    	builder.Append(i.ToString("x2"));

  	var gravitarHash = builder.ToString();

	// GET parameters
	// r = rating, g = G rated (suitable for all)
	// d = image returned when there isn't an image for the email hash
	// 404 = return a 404 when there is no image
  	var url = string.Format("http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/{0}?r=g&d=404", gravitarHash);

  	var imageBytes = getImageFromUrl(url);
  	return imageBytes != null ? Convert.ToBase64String(imageBytes) : null;
}

byte[] getImageFromUrl(string url)
{
  	byte[] buffer;

  	Stream stream = null;
  	try
  	{
    	HttpWebRequest req = WebRequest.Create(url) as HttpWebRequest;
      	HttpWebResponse response = req.GetResponse() as HttpWebResponse;

      	if (response.StatusCode == HttpStatusCode.NotFound)
          	return null;
      	stream = response.GetResponseStream();
		using (BinaryReader reader = new BinaryReader(stream))
		{
			buffer = reader.ReadBytes((int)response.ContentLength);
			reader.Close();
		}
	}
	catch
	{
		buffer = null;
	}
	return buffer;
}