 Mendel Diness

Mendel Diness (1827 in Odessa – December 1, 1900 in Port Townsend, Washington) was a Jewish watchmaker in 19th century Jerusalem who studied photography under the Scottish missionary and photographer James Graham and during the 1850s became the first Jewish photographer in Jerusalem.Diness later converted to Christianity, after which he was divorced by his wife and lost his business due to boycotts by local Jews.