Gordon Ward Gahan (November 5, 1945 – October 19, 1984) was an Americanphotographer.

Gahan was born atSloane Hospital for Women in Manhattan, to Alice M. Ward (housewife, age 37), and Edmund Gahan (owner of an oil well supply business, age 48). He attendedHarrison High School, where he played on the football team. He attendedPhillips Exeter Academy (1959-1963), where he served on the Photographic Boards of the Exonian and the Yearbook. He attendedColumbia University (1963-1964). He worked forUnited Press International (1965-1966),^[1] then was drafted into theUnited States Army, and worked as a photographer in Vietnam during theVietnam War (1966-1968).^[2]

Gahan is best known for his contributions to theNational Geographic in the 1970s and 1980s. He began working for the National Geographic 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 Inc., with Martin Rogers and Howie Shneyer, in New York City.

Gahan died in 1984, while taking aerial photographs in theVirgin Islands for a client. He and his assistant, Joseph Capitelli, died along with the pilot when a helicopter crashed near St. Thomas during the photo shoot.

Gahan's photography has won awards including the 1969 and 1970 Pictures of the Year competition sponsored by theNational Press Photographers Association and theUniversity of Missouri School of Journalism.Gahan's work has been exhibited at theCorcoran Gallery and at Harvard University.Gahan was introduced to US PresidentRichard Nixon at theWhite House in 1972.^[3]

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

• The Renaissance: Maker of Modern Man, 1970
• Great Religions of the World, 1971
• A Day in the Woods, 1975
• Mysteries of the Ancient World, 1979
• Voyages to Paradise: Exploring in the Wake of Captain Cook, 1981

• Michael Kukler, "Mike Garfield and Gordon W. Gahan," National Vietnam Veterans Review, [June 1982?]
• "Obituaries: Gordon Gahan, Photographer, Killed in Crash,",The Washington Post, 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

• 1945 births
• 1984 deaths
• 20th-century American photographers
• Columbia University alumni
• Phillips Exeter Academy alumni

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• Short description is different from Wikidata