In “Paradise Lost: The Life and Death of the Salton Sea” Shaun Lang’s photo essay explores the cultural, economic, and ecological tragedy that has become the Salton Sea. Created by a levee disaster, the former salt mine is the largest “accidental” inland saline lake in North America. Over the years, the 1950’s thriving recreational and vacation destination has been decimated by repeated natural, and man-made calamities. Lang, who specializes in environmental portraiture, says “If you look beyond the atrophied landscape there is life among the ruins...” when referring to the residents of the sea. From the penitent portrait of local icon Leonard Knight to the “Ghost Trees” of the Sonny Bono Wildlife Preserve, Lang’s giclee and silver gelatin prints capture the sea in stark relief against the backdrop of one of America’s great natural sanctuaries.