Grip it and Grin – A Slap in the Face

It can be said that the reputation of Army PR was built on or knocked down by the use of “grip and grin” photos.

How do you defend that?

It can be suggested that the need for output and lack of ‘real’ stories led to a perception of that’s all we did.

The reason I mention this here is because of an Australian War Memorial publication on “Photographs and the modern experience of war”.

http://www.awm.gov.au/publications/contact/photographers/

In the last two paragraphs it mentions the work of avid photographer, Colonel Andy Mattay – particularly while he was a company commander in Vietnam.

The damning quote being “These photographs were intended as a response to the “quip (sic) and grin”  work of public relations photographers”.

There you have it for all the world to see.  Several of our members would have known COL Mattay personally – further detail on him is here:

http://www.awm.gov.au/publications/contact/andrew-mattay.asp

The aim of me mentioning this here is to encourage comment, so, please, don’t be shy 🙂