Erik Refner (born 14 January 1971) is a Danish photographer and former pentathlete, soldier, and model. He is best known for winning the

World Press Photo of the Year The World Press Photo of the Year award is part of the World Press Photo Awards, organized by the Dutch foundation World Press Photo. Considered one of the most prestigious and coveted awards in photojournalism, the World Press Photo of the Ye ...

award in 2002 as a student. He also won the

Cavling Prize The Cavling Prize () is a Danish journalist award. It is awarded annually in January to "a journalist or a group of journalists who have shown initiative and talent in the past year." The Prize commemorates Henrik Cavling, founder of the Dani ...

in 2009.

Early life

Refner was born on the 14th January 1971 in Copenhagen and grew up in the north of the city. As a teenager he travelled internationally, including living for three months in an Israeli

kibbutz A kibbutz ( / , ; : kibbutzim / ) is an intentional community in Israel that was traditionally based on agriculture. The first kibbutz, established in 1910, was Degania Alef, Degania. Today, farming has been partly supplanted by other economi ...

Adult life

In the 1990s, Refner was a sergeant in the

Royal Danish army The Royal Danish Army (; ; ) is the land-based branch of the Danish Armed Forces, together with the Danish Home Guard. For the last decade, the Royal Danish Army has undergone a massive transformation of structures, equipment and training methods ...

after which he spent one year as part of the Danish pentathlon team. He then worked as a model for seven years, before switching to photography after one of the photographers he was working with needed an assistant. He won the

in 2002, while studying at the

Danish School of Media and Journalism Danish School of Media and Journalism (), or DMJX for short, is a Danish organization for higher education in, and a knowledge centre of, media and journalism. DMJX has two campuses; one in Copenhagen and one in Aarhus. In 2004, DMJX and Aarhus U ...

, which he attended from 1998 to 2002. His winning photograph was of the burial of a young Afghan boy in Pakistan, whose family had fled to Jalozai to escape violence in their home country. His early work was focussed on photography in conflict zones and took him to Afghanistan, Darfur, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Palestine, and Iraq. He worked at the

Berlingske ''Berlingske'', previously known as ''Berlingske Tidende'' (, 'Berling's Times'), is a Danish national daily newspaper based in Copenhagen. It is considered a newspaper of record for Denmark. First published on 3 January 1749, ''Berlingske'' is ...

newspaper for eleven years, and did commercial photography for

Canon Canon or Canons may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Canon (fiction), the material accepted as officially written by an author or an ascribed author * Literary canon, an accepted body of works considered as high culture ** Western canon, th ...

, Coca Cola,

Maersk (), usually known simply as Maersk ( ), is a Danish Freight transport, shipping and logistics company founded in 1904 by Arnold Peter Møller and his father Peter Mærsk Møller. Maersk's business activities include Port operator, port operat ...

and Nike. He has been published in ''Elle, Esquire, Time, Newsweek, National Geographic, Phaidon, The New York Times,'' and ''Marie Claire.'' He won the

in 2009. In 2015, he founded the ''IDIP.Agency'' to help photographers obtain payment for copyright infringements.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Refner, Erik 1971 births Living people 21st-century Danish photographers 20th-century Danish photographers 20th-century Danish military personnel Danish male models Danish modern pentathletes