WWI -era "Living Photographs"

I've been seeing these old formation pictures popping up in my Facebook feed recently, and I wondered what they were about. Back then, did the Army really have nothing better to do with entire divisions of people than make cool designs?

Well...no. But the purpose of these "living photographs" wasn't to make money. "Instead of prospering with the sale of the images produced, [they] donated all their profit to the families of the soldiers who returned from the conflict and intended to redo their lives." [Source]