World War I commenced in 1914, while Frank Hurley and the crew of Shackleton's ship were stranded in the Antarctic. In 1916, Hurley arrived in London and was soon signed up to go to the front as an official photographer.

Hurley, and other photographers such as Herbert Wilkins, were employed by the Army and were given honorary officer ranks. This army title stayed with Hurley for the rest of his life as 'Captain Frank Hurley'.

Hurley made some famous images from this period both on the western front and later when he was transferred to Palestine for the battles in the middle east.

Many of the images made by Hurley have gone in the archives, not necessarily identified as being by Hurley.

Hurley developed a reputation on the front for staying close to the action. However, he realised that it was not always possible to demonstrate real action through a the use of a single image. He therefore drew on his talent to put together composite images. For this he would sometimes cut in a dramatic sky, cut in planes or explosions or a range of other compositional techniques. He was a master of composite photograph, something he had learnt how to execute around 1905. He also used the composites for many of his antarctic images.

These composite images were very successful in portraying the circumstances of the war and for communicating to the public back home some heroic images from the front.

The composite images were extremely well received by the general public and have continued to be sought after and exhibited.

When Hurley arrived in the middle east, he had become famous not only for his western front photos but also as the world had now seen the antarctic images and heard the stories of crews salvation. Hurley had learnt to work with authorities. Subsequently Captain Hurley was able to arrange many of his photos by requesting whole formations of soldiers to be arranged as if they were en route to the battle or simarly arranged for dramatic effect.

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