import urllib
import hashlib
import requests
import shutil


email = "example@gmail.com"
image_path = "/tmp/example.png"

gravatar_url = "http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/" + hashlib.md5(
    user.email.lower()).hexdigest() + ".png?"
gravatar_url += urllib.urlencode({'d': str(404), 's': str(160)})

r = requests.get(gravatar_url, stream=True)
if r.status_code == 200:
    with open(image_path, 'wb') as f:
        r.raw.decode_content = True
        shutil.copyfileobj(r.raw, f)