Gordon Gahan was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 photographer.

Photographer Gordon W. Gahan is perhaps best known for his work for the National Geographic Society

National Geographic Society

The National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...

 in the 1970s and 1980s. He began working for the Society in 1968 as a contract photographer, and joined the staff in 1972. Assignments took Gahan around the world—to Japan, Kenya, Senegal, Egypt, Israel, Turkey, Greece, Soviet Union, East and West Germany, France, Switzerland, Portugal, England, Canada, United States, Mexico, Brazil, Guatemala, Belize, Panama, Bolivia, Peru, Colombia, Argentina, Australia, New Zealand, Vanuatu, French Polynesia, and Tonga. He left the National Geographic Society in 1982 to co-found Prism Photography with Martin Rogers and Howie Shneyer. Gahan died in 1984, while taking aerial photographs in the Virgin Islands for a client.

Prior to 1968, Gahan worked for United Press International

United Press International

United Press International is a once-major international news agency, whose newswires, photo, news film and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations for most of the twentieth century...

 and for the U.S. Army in Vietnam. He attended Phillips Exeter Academy

Phillips Exeter Academy

Phillips Exeter Academy is a private secondary school located in Exeter, New Hampshire, in the United States.Exeter is noted for its application of Harkness education, a system based on a conference format of teacher and student interaction, similar to the Socratic method of learning through asking...

, from 1959 to 1963, and Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

, from 1963 to 1964.

Gahan's photography has won awards including the 1969 and 1970 Pictures of the Year competition sponsored by the National Press Photographers Association and the University of Missouri School of Journalism. Gahan's work has been exhibited at the Corcoran Gallery and Harvard University.

Publications with Contributions by Gordon Gahan

• The Coming Revolution in Transportation. National Geographic Magazine, Sept. 1969, p. 301-341.
• The Renaissance: Maker of Modern Man. National Geographic, 1970.
• The Lights Are Up at Ford’s Theatre. National Geographic Magazine, Mar. 1970, p. 392-401.
• In Search of Man's Past at Lake Rudolf. National Geographic Magazine, May 1970, p. 712-734.
• Great Religions of the World. National Geographic, 1971.
• The Exquisite Orchids. National Geographic Magazine, Apr. 1971, p. 484-513.
• Maui, Where Old Hawaii Still Lives. National Geographic Magazine, Apr. 1971, p. 514-543.
• Captain Cook: The Man Who Mapped the Pacific. National Geographic Magazine, Sept. 1971, p. 297-349.
• The More Paris Changes.... National Geographic Magazine, July 1972, p. 64-103
• Drought Bedevils Brazil's Sertão. National Geographic Magazine, Nov. 1972, p. 704-723.
• Israel—The Seventh Day. National Geographic Magazine, Dec. 1972, p. 816-855.
• This Changing Earth. National Geographic Magazine, Jan. 1973, p. 1-37.
• France’s Wild, Watery South, the Camargue. National Geographic Magazine, May 1973, p. 696-726.
• Mexico, the City That Founded a Nation. National Geographic Magazine, May 1973, p. 638-669.
• East Germany: The Struggle to Succeed. National Geographic Magazine, Sept. 1974, p. 295-329.
• A Day in the Woods. National Geographic, 1975.
• Queen Elizabeth's Favorite Sea Dog: Sir Francis Drake. National Geographic Magazine, Feb. 1975, p. 216-253.
• Nova Scotia, the Magnificent Anchorage. National Geographic Magazine, Mar. 1975, p. 334-363.
• Turkey: Cross Fire at an Ancient Crossroads. National Geographic Magazine, July 1977, p. 88-123.
• Imperial Russia's Glittering Legacy. National Geographic Magazine, Jan. 1978, p. 24-33.
• Moscow: The City Around Red Square. National Geographic Magazine, Jan. 1978, p. 2-45.
• Minoans and Mycenaeans: Greece's Brilliant Bronze Age. National Geographic Magazine, Feb. 1978, p. 142-185.
• Mysteries of the Ancient World. National Geographic, 1979.
• Texas! National Geographic Magazine, Apr. 1980, p. 440-483.
• Voyages to Paradise: Exploring in the Wake of Captain Cook. National Geographic, 1981.
• Napoleon. National Geographic Magazine, Feb. 1982, p. 142-189.
• Santa Fe: Goal at the End of the Trail. National Geographic Magazine, Mar. 1982, p. 322-345.

Selected bibliography

• Michael Kukler, "Mike Garfield and Gordon W. Gahan," National Vietnam Veterans Review, [June 1982?].
• "Obituaries: Gordon Gahan, Photographer, Killed in Crash,", The Washington Post
  The Washington Post
  The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...
  
  , October 21, 1984.
• Jane Livingston. Odyssey: the art of photography at National Geographic. Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington DC, 1988. Photo on Plate no. 237; bio on p. 352.
• C.D.B. Bryan. The National Geographic Society: 100 Years of Adventure and Discovery. Abrams, 1997.