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South Beach Miami wonderful LifeGuard Towers

Last Updated on August 16, 2022 by gregor

 

South Beach Miami is famous for its beautiful beaches, wonderful lifestyle, and stunning architecture especially in the Art Deco district. Another aesthetic attribute of South Beach Miami is the presence of several colorful and unique stands used by Miami Beach’s lifeguards on South Beach.

There are 29 iconic towers located from 1st street South Point Miami all the way up to 85th street.

The most famous stands are the ones located between 1st and 23rd street; including the iconic one with the American Flag motif on 13th street.

During my stay in South Beach Miami, I took time mostly early mornings to capture these beautiful towers.

At around 09:30 every morning the Life Guards start their jobs and put the flags out showing that they are on duty.

South Florida Beach Control Flag Warning System

The South Florida Beach Control Authority uses a uniform flag warning system to advise of potential risks. Red Flag indicates a high hazard from surf and/or currents (Yellow is a medium hazard, Green shows a low hazard). Purple flags are used in conjunction with another colored flag and indicate hazards from dangerous marine life.)

In the 1990ies Hurricane Andrew destroyed a lot of these wonderful towers. Shortly afterward the City of Miami rebuilt most of the old stands and added some new ones designed by architect William Lane.

South Florida Life Guard Stations Photography Tips

If you are in South Beach Miami Beach and want to photograph these iconic Life Guard stations here are my top three tips:

  1. Get out early morning or late afternoon. Leveraging the blue or golden hour light conditions and it is not that hot. (get a cap and water)
  2. Walking is best, I tried with a bicycle but you won’t be able to cycle all the distance as the beach is soft and I got stuck in the sand. The walking distance from South Point to 23rd Street is 2,2 miles so calculate between  1,5 -2,5 hours depending on how long you need per station.
  3. Which camera and shooting angle you use depends on your personal preference. I used my DSLR digital camera, but also smartphone cameras probably do well. For the shooting angle, I preferred having the beach and the sea in the background to provide context to the pictures.

I personally like them all so for me it is so very hard to judge which is the nicest.

So what is your preferred Lifeguard tower in South Beach Miami? Anyone, do you like the most?

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