EXCLUSIVEWalk on New Yorks wild side: Photographer treks 160,000 miles to show citys stranger inhabitants

A Scottish photographer has walked more than 160,000 miles in his quest to capture New York as youve never seen it before.

David Gray, an award-winning creative designer originally from Edinburgh, UK, says he trekked eight miles a day for eight years - which he admits makes him sound crazy - taking more than a million photographs of his beloved adopted city.

The result is his new book, Wait For It, which has curated that selection down to around 300 images that reveal New Yorks unexpected side - away from Times Square and Central Park, instead revealing its grittier, quirkier underbelly.

In his foreword, publisher Aaron Hicklin says: In his street photography, David Gray... has captured the city as the bright, glittery, sometimes dirty place I fell in love with.

The High Lines pigeon sculpture Dinosaur celebrates the ever-present New York City street bird

The familiar New York skyline - from an unfamiliar vantage point

More pigeons - this time on the steps of Brooklyns Public Library

The semaphoring of New Yorks past is everywhere in these photos, from the peeling iron girders of a subway station to the ubiquitous construction hoardings of a city in constant renewal and renovation. 

The images also explore the only in New York moments that feel unique to the place: a T-Rex walking a dog down a Brooklyn street; a man carrying a black cat on the subway; a lion casually grabbing a coffee. 

In fact, wildlife is a recurring theme - where a panda rubs shoulders with the ever-present pigeon, a giraffe peers curiously over the Financial District, and a baby Cookie Monster meanders home after a long night.

To spend time with Grays photos is to feel that you are part of drama of the city itself, writes Hicklin, the person on the other side of the lens, catching a glimpse of the Brooklyn Bridge through the window of a rain-lashed ferry, spying a dog through the steamed-up glass of a coffee shop, or peeping at a man with a cane as he contemplates the creamy white contours of a female nude in the sculpture hall of New Yorks Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Wait For It: Photographs of New York City by David Gray is published by Grand Editions 

Just a black cat in a T-shirt, watching you from the subway steps

The irony of a sausage dog walking past a butchers shop is not lost on Gray

Nothing to see here - just a T-Rex walking a dog in Park Slope, Brooklyn

A lion takes his coffee to go in a leafy Gowanus

The skyscrapers of Hudson Yards tower over a casual panda

Gillie and Marc Schattners giant wildlife sculptures preside over Manhattans Financial District

Fishing in Red Hook - there is no record of whether the fish was thrown back or taken home for dinner

Arguably Coney Islands two most famous attractions - the Cyclone roller coaster and the New York Aquarium

The Cookie Monster wanders home in Cobble Hill

Wait For It: Photographs of New York City by David Gray is published by Grand Editions