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I. K. Inha (Into Konrad, born Konrad Into Nyström, November 12, 1865 Virrat – April 3 1930, Helsinki) was a Finnish photographer, author, translator, and journalist. Inha is considered to be one of the grand masters of Finnish photography. Sometimes he is even referred to as the "the national photographer" of Finland. He is especially known for his documentation of Finnish folk tradition, old habits and customs, and landscapes. In addition to his documentary work he was a significant portrayer of modernisation in the early 20th century.

Family and life

Konrad Into Nyström was born in 1865 in the village of Jäähdyspohja in the municipality of Virrat in central Finland. His father was the bailiff Johan Abraham Nyström and his mother Clara Charlotta Nyström (née Vikman). After Inha's childhood years the family moved to the town of Ikaalinen and from there Inha moved to Hämeenlinna in 1877 to study in the famous Lyceum of Hämeenlinna. In addition to normal school subjects Inha also studied additional languages and journalism. Inha matriculated in 1884 and afterwards moved to Helsinki and enrolled in the University of Helsinki to study first aesthetic, Finnish language, and history only to change his majors to geology, geography, and chemistry after one year of studies. Inha never graduated but was an avid generalist and spoke fluently several languages.

Helsinki remained Inha's home town for the most of his life but in addition to his numerous travels he also spent some years in the villages of Karjalohja and Lohja in southwestern Finland.

Konrad Into had twelve siblings: Ilma Nyström, Saima Albertina Nyström, Julian Toivo Nyström, Aina Johanna Nyström, Aleksander Väinö Nyström, Kanutus Onni Nyström, Sakris Usko Nyström, Inha Luciina Nyström, Helma Abrahamina Nyström, Urban Solmu Nyström, Impi Margareta Nyström, and Tyyni Maria Nyström, who was born from J.A. Nyström's second marriage after his first wife had passed away.

Konrad Into Nyström became Into Konrad Inha in 1887 when he started his public career as a journalist. Inha was the name of his sister (Inha Luciina), who died when Into was three years old in 1896.

Work and achievements

Alongside famous Finnish artists like Jean Sibelius, Juhani Aho, and Eero Järnefelt, Inha was an integral part of the informal movement what is nowadays called the golden era of Finnish art in the turn of the 19th century.

Some of the early years of his career (1889-1890) Inha spent in Europe and studied photography in Germany, Austria, and Italy. After returing to Finland he spent most of the late 1800's and early 1900's touring the Finnish countryside photographing and documenting the old Finnish way of life that was slowly disappearing due to urbanization and modernization. His travels included several trips to northern and eastern Finland and even a grand tour during which he drove his bicycle through the whole country in 1895. Due to his activity and productivity Inha slowly became the single most significant photographic documentarist of the Finnish landscape and countryside. Most of his negatives have been lost but many of his work were reproduced in several pictorial books.

Inha was a prominent journalist and worked for the Finnish newspaper Uusi Suometar for almost twenty years (1888-1906) as an editor of foreign affairs. He was also dispatched as an official correspondent to Athens in 1897 to cover the Greco-Turkish War (1897) and to London in 1899 to correspond on the on-going Boer Wars. These were most likely the first times a Finnish newspaper sent out an official correspondent to cover foreign conflicts abroad. He also wrote critique on music, literature, and other arts and doubled as a photographer.

Inha translated around forty books into Finnish chiefly from German and French originals, wrote over twenty books of his own, mostly on popular topics in geography and natural sciences and edited almost as many compilations on similar topics.

Anecdotal

Inha was an avid cyclist and made many of his trips in Finland and in Europe on a bike. He was also among the first to import bicycles to Finland and even the Finnish word for bicycle (polkupyörä) is often claimed to have been coined by Inha.

During his vast domestic travels Inha is claimed to have visited every municipality in Finland.