This page shows some of the major events that have shaped my life, including areas such as aerospace and fashion photography. Let's start with one of the most recent major events in my life, that has definitely had a hand in shaping who I am.

For those of you who have known me for a while, you know that I have publicly acknowledged the fact that I am transgender. What this means is that my body and mind have never been in agreement, and this goes back to the moment I was born, although I was not cognizant of the fact until I was approximately 3-4 years old.

Starting near the end of 2006, I started my transition, which was completed about one year later. I am a male-to-female transsexual and live as female full time since October 2007. I completed surgery in May 2008.

The amazing thing for me was the amount and level of acceptance with most everyone I know. I have received nearly unanimous support from all of my friends and family, and this is something I would never have dreamed of as being possible. As one friend told me, people are much more "evolved" nowadays. This, I have found, is especially true amongst the forward thinking people I tend to associate with. Space exploration and the future are for everyone.

I am not alone in my transition. It is estimated that one out of every 250 to 500 males in the United States has some degree of gender dysphoria. This is approximately twice the number of people who suffer from Multiple Sclerosis and Cerebral Palsy. The number is most likely similar for females, but is harder to track since female-to-male transgenders usually have a much easier time fitting in and being accepted by society.

I wish that anyone with this difficulty could have as easy a time of it as I have, once I finally accepted that transition was the only answer that would work for me. Being a public figure already in certain circles made me decide early in this process to not hide these facts from anyone, and to aid others in understanding, as much as that may be possible. With that in mind, I have given many talks at colleges and universities on this subject, including the UCI School of Medicine, Orange Coast College, Irvine Valley College, Cal State Fullerton, and Pepperdine University. If anyone is interested in more info on this subject, feel free to drop me a line anytime.

ILife is good for the first time and for anyone who might be reading this and thinking something negative, all I can say is that it is a fact that some of us have to live with, so please show your tolerance of others you may not understand.

Michelle and Cherie, Partners in Life.

Transition Links

I write a column on transgender issues for the web site Sex Ed 101. It appears on the first of each month. If my column is not available, all my columns are archived here:

Sex Ed 101 column archive

Other important links:

OC Register profile

Orange County Transgender Coalition

Trantasia

Sitting in the commander's seat aboard the Space Shuttle — the ultimate dream of spaceflight.

May 1967, as an 11-year-old kid, I stood beneath the 3-story tall nose of the XB-70 aircraft number 20001 at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Catching some shade on the hot tarmac of an air show.

This aircraft remains a favorite of mine, second only to the X-15 (it's number 1 as far as Cherie is concerned!).

The inset at right shows a detail of this old black & white Polaroid taken by my father, Bryce. In it you can see the makings of a true photo nerd — tacky shorts, thick black-rimmed glasses, a pocket protector case for my sunglasses, and the old twin-lens reflex camera.

May 1984, almost to the day 17 years later, I am standing in the same spot beneath the same giant bomber prototype. The only difference is that the XB-70 is now on display at the U.S. Air Force Museum at Dayton, Ohio.

I'm always glad I shot this photo when I did. Since the bomber was moved indoors to better protect it against the elements, this shot would be impossible to reproduce today.

I am very happy they did move it indoors, however, since I recall distinctly seeing rusty water dripping from this magnificent aircraft. Ohio is a far cry from the dry California desert.

I spent most of my seven years in the U.S. Air Force at Fairchild AFB, outside Spokane, Washington. I worked on the Short Range Attack Missile (SRAM). This missile system replaced the aging fleet of Hound Dog missiles. When the Hound Dogs were finally phased out completely in the mid-1970s, all of them were destroyed as stipulated by international arms agreements.

This is the very last Hound Dog at Fairchild. Our group was to move it into a hangar where it would meet its fate. I had to get one special shot with this historic missile, so I handed my camera to a friend and told him to take a shot of me doing this Dr. Strangelove pose.

This photo is in a weapons storage bunker at Fairchild AFB where we kept the SRAM between maintenance checkouts and loading on the rotary launcher for flight test, or to stand alert duty on the B-52 Stratofortress. Here you can see several SRAMs on their bunkbed storage units. The rails in the foreground are from the transport cart that is just being lowered.

Photography and writing are what I am best at, however, I did try my hand at painting one time. I created this mural of the B-1 bomber to cover the wall in my office at Fairchild AFB in the late 1970s. It is 17 feet long and 7 feet tall. Outside of the frame, an SR-71 flew high above and to the right toward the Sun, which is also out of frame. I often wonder if this mural still exists.

Above is a shot from August 1977. This was my set-up in the NASA parking lot at the Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards AFB for ALT-1, the first approach and landing test of the Space Shuttle Enterprise. My Celestron 8-inch telescope provided me with a 2000 mm lens to shoot the 747 with the Enterprise nestled on its back.

STS-1: Shortly after the first landing of Space Shuttle Columbia on April 14, 1981 at Edwards AFB. To date, I have covered 25 landings and 4 launches of the shuttle (Edwards AFB is a lot closer than Kennedy Space Center in Florida!)

The very first model of the Space Shuttle I constructed in 1979. This was a 1/144-scale kit and is painted with the white External Tank in the configuration of the first flight of the shuttle system. This shot was an early attempt to do a special effects photo and was hung from the ceiling of my room at Fairchild AFB.

Columbia: Orbiter OV-102

Columbia was in refurbishment at the Palmdale, California, facility of Rockwell International when these photos were taken. The one on the left is coming through the side hatch tunnel to the mid-deck. The one on the right is coming up the ladder to the flight deck. Thanks to Jeff Howe for taking these photos.

I have another photo, sitting in the cargo bay with Jeff, just outside the airlock hatch. Soon after the Columbia accident in February 2003, I saw a photo of this same hatch imbedded in the soggy ground in Texas.

The tragedy of Columbia is that the loss of the seven astronauts was as preventable as the loss of the Challenger had been 17 years previously. "Those who know not of the past are doomed to repeat it."

In the pilot's seat of the Goodyear blimp, flying over Southern California.

Photos by Michael Cutler.

I enjoy doing educational programs for schools and science centers. This is from the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana, California. The presentation concerned the recent landings of the rovers Spirit and Opportunity on Mars.

Certified to handle lunar rock samples brought back to Earth by the Apollo astronauts, I have had the pleasure to show these fantastic specimens on many occasions to school children, and at exhibits and expos across the country.

While still in the Air Force, in November 1976, I purchased my first professional camera: a silver-body Nikon F with 105 mm and 200 mm Nikkor lenses, in a sturdy Halliburton case. Although I have gone through several cameras since then, and have now gone completely digital, I still have this complete set that I started with so many years ago.

I purchased the equipment from a friend in the Air Force, using my reenlistment bonus. Deciding to turn my photography into a professional endeavor, I literally walked down the hall after purchasing the camera and placed a call to the Drezden Modeling Agency in Spokane. I told them I would like to get into fashion and modeling photography, and wondered if I might be able to set up a shoot with a couple of their models. They accepted.

My friend Gary, whom I had bought the system from, listened in on the call. Immediately afterward, he got on the phone and ordered a new camera for himself. We were in business together for the next several years, until I left the Air Force and returned to my native Southern California.

My very first professional modeling photograph, taken in December 1976. The model's name is Janice.

A couple years after beginning my career photographing models, I was talking with a friend in the Air Force. He asked me how I got started and I told him about the first cold day out by the Spokane River with Gary and myself shooting photos of Janice and Marci.

He said how he had seen a couple people once in that area shooting photos of models and had taken a picture of them shooting photos from across the river. He dug out the photo, and there was Gary and I on our very first day of professional work!

In the photo above, I am photographing Janice almost in the center of the frame, near the edge of the large rock outcropping. Gary is slightly below me and about half way to the right side of the photo, shooting Marci.

Near the upper left of the frame you can see my new car (a 1976 Toyota Corolla SR5 Liftback) parked near a tree. The cold is plainly visible in the frost covering the trees and rocks.

It was unbelievable that someone happened to capture this moment in time. The detail (right) from the photo shows me with Janice, camera to my face, snapping a shot.

A photo of Janice taken by me at about the same time the above shot was taken from across the river.

A photo from my very first fashion show. The model was Miss Washington 1976. She was a good friend who worked with Tom Kaylor. Tom and I also worked together for many years.

At work in our first makeshift studio. Gary and I set up in a small room at the Fairchild AFB Recreation Club. We mounted paper and set up our lighting equipment. Cindy was our first model to use this studio. I learned then that I prefer outdoor, natural lighting.

This is Anne. She was a waitress at Savage House Pizza in Airway Heights. This was a favorite hangout for people from Fairchild AFB. Anne was one of the primary reasons I decided to become a professional photographer. These photos were taken at the Japanese Gardens in Spokane in the Spring of 1977 and they were my first time working with a nonprofessional model, a preference I maintain to this day.