Missy Shields wanted her photos taken while walking to an organic food store.

Kaiama Glover longed to capture her life during pregnancy, while Angie Wong wanted snaps while shopping in New York's SoHo district.

They hired New York photographer Izaz Rony, who is tapping into the demand for candid photography in a society increasingly keen to document often mundane details of daily life on websites like Facebook and YouTube.

Since launching his website MethodIzaz about seven months ago, 23-year old Rony has had 45 clients.

He charges between US$300 and US$350 an hour to follow them and covertly take their pictures.

His clients are looking to capture a moment, a feeling or event in their lives - a marriage proposal or a mother going shopping at Prada with a daughter she barely sees.

"They either give me a minute-by-minute schedule, or they'll say they'll be in SoHo and then they'll text me to say when they're walking out of Louis Vuitton, for example," Rony explained.

But if it sounds like he is a paparazzi, Rony is adamant that he is not. He's not pushy, he said, and aims to present his subjects in the best possible light.

"When I first started out I mentioned as an aside to some of the clients that it was a bit like paparazzi photography," Rony said. "But they didn't like that thought."

Yet Andrea Volbrecht, a photo editor at Marie Claire, hired Rony to take a portrait of one of their fashion editors because she liked his paparazzi style.

"I think there is definitely a market, for people who want to be photographed that way," she said.

"There is also that celebrity tie - it's the way you see celebrities represented very often - walking through the street and having their picture taken. I think people like to idealise themselves, sometimes, in the footsteps of a celeb," she explained.

Rony said while some of his clients may want to post their photos on social networking sites, others simply want them for their own personal use.

Glover, who is in her early 30a and works at Columbia University, said she and her husband had not been diligent about taking pictures of her pregnancy.

She wanted a professional touch, but not something staged.

She picked a day when she was planning to be outdoors with a friend - who did not know about the photographer - and said she didn't notice Rony until the end of the day.

Wong, who is in her 40s and lives in New Jersey, had her pictures taken shopping in SoHo's trendy boutiques.

"I wanted to show my lifestyle now, to share the photos with my family and friends," she said. "I wanted pictures of a natural moment."

Shields, who is about two decades younger than Wong, wanted to "capture her innocence" as she walked down the street to her local grocery store, Rony said.

"I think in our society people strive for perfection, physically, emotionally and mentally," said Rony.

"When people take an interest in you, when you know you're going to have your photograph taken, you make more of an effort. You dress better, you look better, you feel better, you have more confidence."

Reuters Life