Darice Michelle Photography

One of NAS Jax’s Military Navy Squadron’s, HSM-70 Spartans (Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron), celebrated the holidays at the Omni Hotel in downtown Jacksonville.  The  MH-60R Seahawk Aircraft (aka: Romeo, the helicopter you see above) was flown in from from New York in the beginning of 2009 in preparations to replace the SH-60B and SH-60F helicopters.  Therefore, a new squadron here in NAS JAX was formed and since has been in development for their anti-submarine and anti-surface warfare missions.  At some point, HSM-70 squadron faces future acute, intense and zealous training preparations for whenever they  deploy with Carrier Air Wing Eight on the inaugural cruise and Aircraft Carrier USS George Bush (CVN-77).  So it is of no surprise that these officers, pilots and enlisted officials along with their guests can devout an evening to enjoy each other’s company, let loose, and belt out with uncontrollable laughs as we all were entertained by Gabriel Holmes, Professional Hypnotist, hypnotizing these volunteered unfortunate souls (ha ha) no jk, they were not unfortunate at all, rather a gem to be displayed, learned upon and appreciated.

Photos of the evening’s celebration include the cocktail hour, awards ceremony, and Gabriel Holmes hypnotizing a few “victims” : )

Scroll down to watch both slideshows, many photos to see…you won’t want to miss out on these!!  Oh yeah, and I am not held responsible for such photos taken during the hypnotisms, I was merely doing my job as a photographer…I’m just saying LOL!

I’d like to give a special thanks Senior Chief Stephanie Glass and Kenneth Kopp, XO (Second Officer in Command), for choosing me to photograph this special evening…it was very enlightening to say the least!

Cocktail and Awards Ceremony Slideshow: (click play, sit back, relax and enjoy!)

HSM-70 Squadron Cocktail Hour and Award Ceremony Photos from Darice Michelle on Vimeo.

Navy Christmas Party held at the Omni Hotel in downtown Jacksonville

Before you hit the play button in eager anticipation to watch the next slideshow of photos taken from the hypnotism aspect of the night, I’d like to say a few words about the notion that hypnotisms are fake or acted out.

Joking aside, I hope you will take the time to read this entire blog post.  Upon seeing Gabriel in action and those that willingly participated in this intriguing “phenomenon”, these are my own thoughts, revelations and conclusions pertaining to the subject of “hypnotizing” .

Everyone has their opinions on whether hypnotisms are real… well after watching what Gabriel Holmes, hypnotist, was able to get others to do, I am definitely convinced that our minds bear more weight and power over our emotions and actions than I can fully “demonstrate” here by words!  Sometimes it takes “seeing” to believe; while other times, it merely takes just a good hard look at your own decisions and belief system for you to realize how real a hypnotic state of mind can bring us.

Aside from the obvious entertaining aspect of witnessing others do crazy things like grabbing airless money, musically playing a violin, canoeing in a canoeless boat, speaking in ancient dialect, posing as James Bond, riding an invisible roller coaster or are convinced they are the strongest and sexiest person alive; what impressed me the most was how Gabriel transitioned the hypnotized volunteers from one extreme state to another within a matter of seconds!

We watched the volunteers go from being totally and completely relaxed to an escalated heart racing motion as they drove their imaginary racing cars competing against one another in a non-existing race…and then BOOM they were brought right back to a tranquilized state awaiting to be guided on what to do, say, think or feel next.  Unbelievable! Or is it?

Another observation I made was the dependancy between the hypnotized and the hypnotizer.  The correlation between the amount of willingness to be influenced or the self-reassured acceptance to let go because one encompasses true security and self confidence is something worth value and should not be easily over looked.  There are several components of the hypnotizer and the hypnotizee’s that I think worthy enough to spend the time to write about.

One of my observations was the connection between reality and fantasy.  This was so prevalently demonstrated by the hypnotist as he created some “situations” for the hypnotized volunteers to be in the midst of.  For example, what Gabriel told the hypnotized volunteers to feel is exactly how they felt.

Now of course some were resisting being “hypnotized” while others surrendered to it more.  Yet, Gabriel blatantly showed us how within a flash, people could experience polar opposite emotions because they are told to feel so.  Now keep in mind when you watch the slideshow, some volunteers are more “involved” than others, this rings true because there were moments where Gabriel specifically told some to “feel or do” certain things while he purposefully omitted others.

For instance, I watched in awe as Gabriel convinced them they were freezing cold thus nestling in each other’s arms obtaining each other’s body heat warming up their “freezing cold” bodies.  Then at Gabriel’s command to cast off their resourceful heated partner because it was burning hot outside thus they sat in isolation thinking it was over 80 degrees to cool off.

If he wanted them to laugh because something was hilarious, and I quote “absolutely hilarious”, then they bursted out with laughter.  If he wanted them to feel confident, he granted them false reason to be so and based upon something that did not exist in the first place, they were just that, VERY CONFIDENT. And then seconds later took away the “source” of confidence and… low and behold, they were insecure outwardly and inwardly displaying signs of loss and disappointment.  Furthermore, if he suggested that they were smelling something fowl, their facial expressions were convincing enough to visually show the audience they really thought they were smelling a disliked odor.  Then immediately made everyone shift gears by encouraging them to smell the person next to them with the belief they were smelling the most pleasant aroma they had ever smelled.  Laying aside our laughs as we watched men smelling men with joyous grins on their faces, the message is clear… the one sending the message, if it is sent with utmost confidence and authority, no matter what the message is (true or not), it is believed to be reality!

“Your reality is what you believe to be real.”

Hypnotism Slideshow:

HSM-70 Squadron 2009 Christmas Party Hypnotism Photos from Darice Michelle on Vimeo.

Hypnotism by Gabriel Holmes

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