Rudi Weissenstein was born in Iglau (Czech Republic) in 1910. In the years 1929-1931 he studied at the "graphische Lehr – und Versuchsanstalt" in Vienna. After his immigration to Palestine in 1936 he worked as a photographer and a journalist and in 1940 he opened the "Photohouse Pri-Or" studio on 30 Allenby Street in Tel-Aviv with his wife Miriam.

Rudi was a real Yekke by nature. He was courteous and sincere, and his customers included many of the leading personalities of the local Jewish community, and later heads of state. He was the official photographer of the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra, a reporter of the UN and more than all - the official photographer of the declaration of the establishment of the state of  Israel by David Ben Gurion, in May 14th 1948.

Rudi's work in documenting the development of Tel Aviv, the first Jewish city, is probably unparalleled. Every negative in his enormous archive (more than a quarter of a million negatives) is testament to Israel, the character of its inhabitants, the way they dressed and behaved. His photographs give the observer a sense of that is the way we were, that is how we looked.

Weissenstein's photographs were displayed in many exhibitions in Israel and abroad and were awarded numerous prizes. More than 150,000 people in 6 weeks visited the last exhibition held at the Reading Power Station in Tel Aviv in 2002