Stephen Wayda (born December 12, 1946) is an American professional photographer, best known for his photography for Playboy magazine.
[5] Wayda hoped to join the Navy ROTC and fly jets, but when his grandfather died and left him a camera collection, he taught himself photography.
[5][7] While working for the Tribune, Wayda was honored for saving the life of Salt Lake City police officer Brent Elcock.
[8] Having developed a method to enhance the reproduction of photographs in the letterpress newspapers, Wayda began his commercial photography career taking newspaper photographs for Zions Cooperative Mercantile Institution (ZCMI), a Salt Lake City based department store, working with models from a local agency.
[5][11] Over his photography career, Wayda has photographed such celebrities as Jack Nicholson, Denzel Washington, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito, Tom Selleck, Demi Moore, Claudia Schiffer, Linda Evangelista, The Game, Kid Rock, Travis Barker, Kim Kardashian, Brooke Burke and Jenny McCarthy.