Biography

From the 1850s, tourism and photography became close associates, offering enormous financial rewards to photographers. By 1853, Platt D. Babbitt had set up his camera on the American side of the Niagara Falls, keeping it permanently pointed towards Horseshoe Falls. He photographed any tourists who came within sight, later offering them the image for sale. Babbitt was granted a monopoly by the manager of the American side which he guarded jealously, producing thousands of photographs during a period of over twenty years.