When Pam Met Tommy by Stephen Wayda | MakersPlace Blog

[Stephen Wayda’s] influence on photography cannot be overstated.   His evolving styles, his sense of sexuality coupled with the personality of his photographic subjects delivered on the Playboy dream, from the fantasy of decadence and passion in Paris to the charm of the girl next door in the wheat fields of Texas. His photographs have helped Playboy in changing the way the world looks at women, and changed the way women look at the world. In his heart he is a cowboy whose job has brought him into contact with the world’s most beautiful women. With a commitment to visual innovation and an artistic sense of sexuality, his contribution to photography will live on for generations to come.

— Hugh Hefner, Playboy founder and publisher

Stephen Wayda is one of the world’s most celebrated photographers, with an ever-evolving Rolodex of photographs of the who’s-who of the world, from A-list celebrities to pop culture icons, supermodels, musicians, and the “girls next door.” Wayda quickly gained his reputation due to his style: he emphasized the attitude and personality of each subject above all else.

At Playboy — where he photographed the most celebrities, covers, women, and pictorials in the magazine’s history — Wayda gained renown for his use of light and composition to capture the intimacy and openness of his subjects, bringing out moments of deep humanity.

Wayda has photographed on four continents, from the African plains to Tengboche Monastery at the base of Mt Everest, from the islands in the Pacific and the Caribbean to the cosmopolitan cities of Europe, and from the heartland of America to the cities and jungles of Asia. 

Through his travels, he has brought to the world stunning, captivating, and thought-provoking photographs. But one of his collections was locked in a safe for nearly two decades. Until now.   

When Pam Met Tommy, the Untold Story

The Pictures Playboy Confiscated for 18 Years.

In 1995, following a mysterious 96-hour tryst, America’s sweetheart married rock’s bad boy on a quiet beach in Cancun.

Behind these photos lay the real story of when Pamela Anderson met Tommy Lee, a mesmerizing mixture of unbridled passion, sexual indulgence, free-flowing whiskey, and $4,000 of Cristal champagne, among others… 

This is Glam Rock’s storybook romance. 

These seven one-of-a-kind photographs depict that untold story of when Pam Met Tommy and their whirlwind marriage 96 hours later. There are three categories of pictures:

• Four prints from the hotel bedroom pictures of Pam alone the morning after her first intimate night with Tommy
• One picture of them together in bed.
• Two photos from the fashion shoot in Cancun

When Hef first saw these images, he literally locked the full shooting in the Playboy safe for 18 years. The photos betrayed Playboy’s image of Pam as the “Girl Next Door” at a time when she was the DNA of the brand. But there was…