He was born on 30 December 1924 in Kraków and died on 10 August 1976 in the same city.
Member of ZPAF from 17 December 1957.

He studied architecture at the Cracow University of Technology, but shortly after joining ZPAF, he gave up his profession as a photographer to become an architect. Together with Wojciech Plewiński and Zbigniew Łagocki, he founded the Domino group, later renamed as the Group of Three. In the years 1964-1970, he lectured in technology, history and theory of photography at the Industrial Design Faculty of the Academy of Fine Arts in Kraków. Over that period, he created a series of nude photographs made using stroboscope light and a fisheye lens. Nowak dedicated a large proportion of his creative endeavours to landscape photography, creating many black-and-white and colour series during his travels across Poland and abroad (to Italy in 1957, Paris in 1965, and Brasil in 1967 and 1970). He collaborated with architectural firms, publishing houses, television, and Kraków theaters. He took active part in the activities of the Union of Polish Art Photographers, representing ZPAF as a juror of various competitions and exhibitions. He was also a member of the Union’s Artistic Board. He exhibited his works widely in Poland and abroad.