Early life

Sawa was born in a German labour camp in Poland in 1941 and lived there with his mother and grandmother until the end of the Second World War in 1945. Both Sawa's paternal and maternal grandfathers were Roman Catholics and perished in Auschwitz concentration camp.

He admits that his love for photography began when The Family of Man

The Family of Man

The Family of Man was a photography exhibition curated by Edward Steichen first shown in 1955 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.According to Steichen, the exhibition represented the 'culmination of his career'. The 508 photos by 273 photographers in 68 countries were selected from almost 2...

 photographic exhibition came to Poland in 1956, coinciding with the time he was given his first camera.

Sawa obtained an engineering degree in Poland and later began freelancing for newspapers and shot stills for the local television broadcaster before joining the broadcaster as a cameraman.

In 1970, Sawa emigrated to South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

, working in electronics at STC.

Career

He later took on a 2-year freelance photographer position at the Johannesburg

Johannesburg

Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...

 Sunday Times covering sports events. At the end of the tenure, he was given a full-time position at the newspaper by then-editor Joel Mervis. From the early-mid 1970s he had been assigned to the Sunday Times Colour Magazine but he was moved to the main newspaper when the new editor Tertius Myburgh shut down the magazine; “No more colour magazine. The advertising cake is not big enough because of TV.” He continued photographing features for the newspaper, covering the Miss South Africa

Miss South Africa

Miss South Africa is an annual beauty pageant in South Africa that began in 1956. The winner of the pageant represents her country at the Miss Universe and Miss World pageants....

 beauty pageant between 1974-1983. Between 1981-1992 he published photographs for the recently relaunched Sunday Times Colour Magazine.

Between the late 1970s to the late 1980s he worked alongside the newspaper's most popular columnist Jani Allan

Jani Allan

Jani Allan is a South African columnist and radio commentator. She became a household name as a columnist for the Sunday Times where she worked between 1979-90. She is also known for her alleged affair with an interviewee, the late right-wing political leader Eugène Terre'Blanche...

, herself named "the most admired person in South Africa." in a 1987 Gallup poll commissioned by the newspaper He photographed her celebrity interviewees such as Sol Kerzner

Sol Kerzner

Solomon Kerzner is a South African accountant and business magnate.-Background and career:Kerzner was born in Troyeville, Johannesburg, the youngest of four children to Jewish Russian immigrants...

, Vladimir Tretchikoff

Vladimir Tretchikoff

Vladimir Grigoryevich Tretchikoff was one of the most commercially successful artists of all time - his painting Chinese Girl is one of the best selling art prints ever.Tretchikoff was a...

, Taubie Kushlick

Taubie Kushlick

Taubie Kushlick was a South African actress and producer. She became characterized as the self-styled "First Lady of Theatre".-Personal life and education:...

 and Pieter-Dirk Uys

Pieter-Dirk Uys

Pieter-Dirk Uys is a South African satirist, active as a performer, author, and social activist. He is the son of a Calvinist Afrikaner father and Berlin-born Jewish mother and had an NG Kerk upbringing. He began his dramatic career as a serious playwright, switching to one-man revues at the...

. His photographs were later compiled in Face Value

Face Value (book)

Face Value is a book of collected journalism by South African journalist Jani Allan. The book is compiled from selections of Allan's successful gossip and popular culture column Just Jani that appeared in the Sunday Times. She was voted "the most admired person in South Africa." in a Gallup poll...

, a book of interview columns Allan published.

He also worked with Allan and other journalists on assignments for the newspaper with international celebrity figures such as Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski

Roman Polanski is a French-Polish film director, producer, writer and actor. Having made films in Poland, Britain, France and the USA, he is considered one of the few "truly international filmmakers."...

, Frank Sinatra

Frank Sinatra

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...

, Oliver Reed

Oliver Reed

Oliver Reed was an English actor known for his burly screen presence. Reed exemplified his real-life macho image in "tough guy" roles...

, Richard Burton

Richard Burton

Richard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...

 and Roger Moore

Roger Moore

Sir Roger George Moore KBE , is an English actor, perhaps best known for portraying British secret agent James Bond in seven films from 1973 to 1985. He also portrayed Simon Templar in the long-running British television series The Saint.-Early life:Moore was born in Stockwell, London...

.

He was also the only photographer outside of National Geographic permitted to photograph the relocation of animals at Etosha.

Outside of the magazine, he shot an LP cover for the band Queen

Queen (band)

Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...

.

He published his first solo photography book Children of South Africa in 1993. His other works have included several cookery books such as Rainbow Cuisine.

He has been honoured with fellowships from three different photographic societies; the Royal Photographic Society

Royal Photographic Society

The Royal Photographic Society is the world's oldest national photographic society. It was founded in London, United Kingdom in 1853 as The Photographic Society of London with the objective of promoting the Art and Science of Photography...

, the South African and the Professional.