A shanty town at Barangay Tangos, Manila Bay, Philippines A burned shanty town at Parola Compound in Tondo, Manila, Philippines. A church, Iglesia Ni Cristo, sits in the background. Garbage piled on ships in Manila, Philippines. Densely built houses in Manila, Philippines. A view of the Tondo slum in Manila, Philippines. Laguna de Bay, Manila, Philippines.

• Manila Life It's Time For M.a.c.e

Manila Life It's Time For M.a.c.e

Shacks and boats in Navotas City, Manila, Philippines. A burnt section of the Tondo slum in Manila. A shantytown in Manila, Philippines. Ships docked at the harbor in Manila, Philippines.

A shanty town at Barangay Tangos, Manila Bay, Philippines A burned shanty town at Parola Compound in Tondo, Manila, Philippines. A church, Iglesia Ni Cristo, sits in the background. Garbage piled on ships in Manila, Philippines.

Densely built houses in Manila, Philippines. A view of the Tondo slum in Manila, Philippines.

Laguna de Bay, Manila, Philippines. Shacks and boats in Navotas City, Manila, Philippines.

A burnt section of the Tondo slum in Manila. A shantytown in Manila, Philippines. Ships docked at the harbor in Manila, Philippines.

More Photography. Manila has 36,000 people per square mile, making it one of the most densely populated cities in the world.

The density is even higher in the 500 slums that line the city's rivers, railroad tracks, and garbage dumps, where you can find more than 200,000 people per square mile. During his first night in town, Lang looked out his hotel window to see the city aglow. An unattended stove sparked a fire that raced through Tondo, the city's largest slum. By morning, 1,000 shacks and shanties lay in ruin, leaving 15,000 people homeless. 'It's this close, edge-to-edge life,' he says. The next day, Lang chartered a helicopter to fly over the ruins. Safely belted into his seat, the photographer leaned out the side with his medium format digital camera.

A thousand feet below, people sifted through the rubble and lined up for food and water at a nearby church. The chopper took Lang to other neighborhoods and to the port, where hundreds of makeshift houses teeter on stilts. “They’re literally built on the sea,” Lang says. Two more fires broke out during the week Lang spent in Manila.

His striking photos are a reminder of how perilous life is at the edge.