Andrzej Sawa (born 1941) is a

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

- South African photographer.

Early life

Sawa was born in Poland and was taken to a German labour camp in 1943 and lived there with his mother and grandmother until the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

in 1945. Both Sawa's paternal and maternal grandfathers were Roman Catholics and perished in Auschwitz concentration camp.Pole position
Saturday Star. 27 December 2007 He admits that his love for photography began when

The Family of Man ''The Family of Man'' was an ambitious exhibition of 503 photography, photographs from 68 countries curated by Edward Steichen, the director of the New York City Museum of Modern Art's (MoMA) Department of Photography. According to Steichen, ...

photographic exhibition came to Poland in 1956, coinciding with the time he was given his first camera, by his grandmother.Andrezej Sawa
Nikon Professional Services Sawa obtained an engineering degree in Poland but later began freelancing for newspapers and shot stills for the local television broadcaster before joining the broadcaster as a cameraman, although in his heart he remained a photographer. In 1970, Sawa emigrated to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, working in electronics at STC. While there, he freelanced as a photographer for South Africa's Sunday Times newspaper.

Career

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

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

'' Sunday Times'' covering sports events. At the end of the tenure, he was given a full-time position at the newspaper. From the early-mid 1970s he was assigned to the ''Sunday Times Colour Magazine, but'' was moved to the main newspaper when the magazine was closed. He continued photographing features for the newspaper, covering the

Miss South Africa Miss South Africa is a national beauty pageant in South Africa that selects South African representatives to compete in two of the Big Four international beauty pageants, Miss World and Miss Universe, and also selects another representative ...

beauty pageant between 1974 and 1983. Between 1981 and 1992 he published photographs for the relaunched ''Sunday Times Colour Magazine''. In the 1980s, he worked closely alongside the newspaper's columnist,

Jani Allan Jani Allan (born 11 September 1952) is a South African journalist, columnist, writer and broadcaster. She became one of the country's first media celebrities in the 1980s and 1990s. In 1980, Allan became a columnist for the centrist newspaper, ...

. As the paper's chief photographer, he photographed her celebrity interviewees with popular personalities. His photographs were later compiled in '' Face Value'', a book of Allan's interview columns accompanied by full-page photographs taken by Sawa. He also worked with Allan and other journalists on assignments for the newspaper with international celebrity figures.Face and Places (Jani Allan)
New Hope Pennsylvania. 2003 He was also the only photographer outside of National Geographic permitted to photograph the relocation of animals at

Etosha Etosha National Park is a national park in northwestern Namibia and one of the largest national parks in Africa. It was proclaimed a game reserve in March 1907 in Ordinance 88 by the Governor of German South West Africa, Friedrich von Lindequist. ...

National Park in Namibia. Outside the magazine, he shot two LP covers for the band

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

. Queen's lead singer Freddie Mercury had seen Sawa's work when in South Africa and called him to ask him to collaborate on the covers. Sawa also worked for Flying Springbok, the inflight magazine of South Africa's national airline, South African Airways, from 1987 to 2007, specialising in travel and wildlife photography. During this time he visited 70 countries. He published his first solo photography book, ''Children of South Africa,'' in 1993. He has been honoured with fellowships from three different photographic societies; the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain (1987); the Photographic Society of Southern African (1987); and the Professional Photographers of Southern Africa (1997).

Publications

* Allan, Jani, '' Face Value'', Longstreet, Cape Town, 1980s, (inside photographs) *Sawa, Andrzej, ''Children of South Africa'', Southern Book Publishers, South Africa, 1993, *Snyman, Lannice, Sawa, Andrzej, Johnson, Vaughan, ''Reflections of the South African Table'', S & S Publishers, South Africa, 1995, *Snyman, Lannice, Sawa, Andrzej, ''South African Family Favourites'', Publisher Don Nelson, 1996, *Roberts, Margaret, Weber, Rita, Sawa, Andrzej, ''Herbs and Spices Cookbook'', Southern Book Publishers, South Africa, 1998, *Snyman, Lannice & Sawa, Andrzej, ''Rainbow Cuisine'', S&S Publishers, South Africa, 1998, *Snyman, Lannice & Sawa, Andrzej, ''Gourmet Hideaways'', S&S Publishers, South Africa, 2000, *Snyman, Lannice & Sawa, Andrzej, ''Rainbow Cuisine'', Konemann, South Africa, 2001, (2nd edition) *De Koster, Carolié & Sawa, Andrzej, ''Snack-style Food'', Lapa, South Africa, 2004, *De Koster, Carolié & Sawa, Andrzej, ''Keur Kos vir Elke Dag'', LAPA Uitgewers, 2004, ISBN (pending) *De Koster, Carolié & Sawa, Andrzej, ''Kies Gesond: Resepte vir Elke Dag'', LAPA Uitgewers, 2009,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sawa, Andrzej Polish photographers South African photographers South African photojournalists 1941 births Living people Polish emigrants to South Africa