ALL Carolina Crane Rental lifts the spire of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist

The crane was the star of the show on lift day.  No doubt about it!  The leading man was crane operator, Michael Black, of ALL Carolina Crane Rental.

http://www.allcrane.com/

ALL lifted and placed our precious ornaments with surgical precision.   Every ALL crew member whether stationed above or below or somewhere in the middle ensured perfect synchronicity.  We were profoundly impressed.

ALL’s German-made cranes are state-of-the-art, and their highly skilled and experienced operators who, throughout their careers, have driven what they contend to be a spectrum of cranes, emphatically assert they will never operate anything but an ALL crane ever again.    We can see why.  We’ve come across the best machines and operators in action all over the world and we know great when we see it.  ALL’s expertise  was abundantly evident.  We are fans.

Though the glamorous and dramatic spire lift was what got the big applause, ALL has been helping us out for months now.  You’ve seen most of these pictures before, but here is a flashback from some of our favorite ALL crane moments:

More lift pictures of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist’s spire

By a stroke of luck, we were introduced to pro photographer and Charleston local, Jeni Rone, of Sea Star Arts during the last few days of our stay here.  Jeni is known for her fine art photography throughout the southeastern United States and has proven her professional mettle photographing all manner of places, events and circumstances.  Actively involved in capturing moments showcasing important proceedings in her very historic home town of Charleston, South Carolina, Jeni made no exception to exceptionally covering the pre to post details of this monumental day.

We purchased several of her photos which are featured below.  Make sure to buy some of your own, too!

http://seastararts.smugmug.com/Events/St-John-The-Baptist-Steeple/11457538_t7U9P#805911245_dwzE7

or

http://seastararts.smugmug.com/Events/Steeple-Installation/11473366_hkcrZ#807112616_Q53iE

All photos in this gallery are posted with the kind permission of the artist.  Thanks, Jeni!

The Completed Cathedral Tower and Spire

The copper spire along with the brownstone veneer columns and finials have been up for a couple of weeks now.  Jeni Rone of Sea Star Arts has photographed the completed cathedral and steeple for us.

A trip to the top of the steeple is not for the faint of heart, but those who have the opportunity to do so are rewarded with an extraordinary view of the gorgeous Charleston skyline and an up-close-and-personal look at the artistry of this magnificent spire.  To see Jeni’s photo log of her trip to the top of the spire, visit this link:  http://seastararts.smugmug.com/Events/St-John-The-Baptist-Steeple/11457538_t7U9P#824078003_zUhpt

All the pictures posted in this entry are copyrighted and displayed here by gracious permission from the photographer.    Please contact Sea Star Arts for photo use information.

Whew!  Our copper work is done, the lift is over and now we can concentrate more on other fun stuff!

We have been very fortunate to have met some great people and to have made  wonderful new friends during our time in Charleston.  One such person is pro photographer, Jeni Rone, of Sea Star Arts and her friends at Steely and Kerr Photography.  More to come on Jeni and her work in future posts, but for now, here is the story of the pictures in today’s gallery as told by Larry of Bella Vista Bridal on 211 King Street in Charleston.  (They have a location in Columbia, too!)

“On Saturday, Jeni Rone, our good friend, photographer, and artist called to ask if we had a dress available for a photo shoot on Sunday.  She let us know that St. John the Baptist Cathedral was going to be getting its new steeple after over 100 years on Monday, but before it went up they had gotten special permission to do a photo shoot using the steeple while it was still in the courtyard.  We tagged along and took some pictures of the steeple and the shoot.  Jeni did such a great job with this historic opportunity that I am sure her pictures will be showing up for a long time to come. Bella Vista Bridal was proud to be able to help this come together and see one of our beautiful dresses alongside this great piece of art.  We also met the artisan who crafted this steeple (that’s him helping the model onto the steeple base).  Keep an eye out for Jeni’s pictures at SeaStarArts.com”

Steely and Kerr Photography shot the pictures in this gallery.  More photos of the Cathedral can be viewed by visiting their website: http://www.steelykerr.com/ A special thanks to Steely and Kerr for these great photos!

Please also visit Sea Star Art’s blog post about this day:  http://seastarartsblog.com/2010/03/charleston-copper-princess/