The Jacquets.

The child in the red is Henri, and the child in the blue is his twin brother, Jean-Baptiste. The alien teen is Sebastien. Chloe and Gilbert are making out in their underwear.

I've just built a photography studio in my neighbourhood. I plan to use it for family portraits and photos of my sims' kids dressed in teddy bear outfits! The Larsons were the first family to use it. Here are their portraits, which are all hanging in their house:

One family portrait, and then Stirling and Kayla paid for two more of their kids:

I love all of these! :-) Especially the jumping one. So cool!

Thanks! I'm having a lot of fun with the studio and composing portraits. Never thought such a simple idea could be so entertaining!

Cleveland Family Portrait





Ella: I also build photo studios in my neighbourhoods. Its sooooo fun! I'm glad I'm not the only one enjoying that part of the game.

I tried making a photo studio, but it failed miserably.

IDK what Ella did in hers but what I do is build a long wall on a small empty residential lot. I place my collection of poseboxes, the camera, the Freezer Clock, various hack objects like a Max Motives one and something to Summon an outside Sim to take the picture with the camera (I use stuff that came with InSim), and the Stay Things Shrub so all these objects won't disappear when I'm moving families in and out of the lot.

I just move the family I want to do pictures with and freeze time, pose them, take screenshots and pictures. It's my favourite pastime.

I made an actual community lot and built it to look like a proper studio. I'm busy trying to make a sign for the outside, but I'll probably just stick with wallpaper recolours for the sign.

Then I just divided it into a few different rooms (I have four rooms) and painted the rooms completely white. Any colour is fine, but white is the least distracting. I also have one room completely green so that I can edit the screenshots later (like a green screen.) Then I have an entrance hall where sims can "hang" their coats and an office area for photographers and employees. Also, These lights by Numenor really do help in bringing the place alive, and make it look nice and realistic.

It really helps to have Insim installed, because then you can enable Buy&Build and move your sims around and buy poseboxes and photo props.
I don't use the antique camera to take my shots, but rather Fraps or the in-game camera. I then place the screenshots (after a bit of editing) into the Paintings folder and have my sims paint them for themselves. A download from TSR (I know, I know...) gives me a wider selection of easel sizes and shapes so that I can choose the best one for the picture.

Two family pictures (one candid, one formal) from Gene and Melanie Ramaswami's wedding.

First, the candid. Gene's parents, siblings, niece, and nephew cheer for the newlyweds:



And the formal. The entire family poses for a group photo after the wedding (I explain who's who below):


Back row from left: Sanjay (Gene's father), Giselle (Gene's sister, who served as Best Lady- Gene's actually closer to her than any of his brothers), Melanie, Gene, Priya (Gene's mother), and Gloria (Gene's sister, who served as Maid of Honor). Front row (again from left): Alicia and David (Giselle's kids, Gene's niece and nephew, who served as Flower Girl and Ring Bearer)

College students Juniper Smith and Daniken Howe and their parents, Johnny and Ophelia Smith and Matthew and Ellison Howe.

Another photo from the Photography Studio:

This time it's the less formal-looking Jacobs; Josie and Leah with their adopted twin daughters Emily and Rachel.

Joshua Evans tickles his second sister Difficult Subject. They're Frieda's goofiest children, though hyperactive Difficult tends to wear her oldest brother out in short order.



And no Subject family gathering, no matter how small, is complete without a slaphands marathon. Difficult's husband Gozer keeps score ("Point goes to Joshua!" *thumbs-up*)



It all turns into a pillowfight free-for-all once Joshua's wife Beth gets home from work.

"So, Ruby, this is where you work."
"Yes, Dad, you know that."
"This boxlike little place that preys on the desperation of women who don't need to feel nearly as inadequate as they do."
"Speak up, Dad, I don't think they heard you dissing my source of income on the other side of town."
"It's even more of a blot on the urban landscape up close."
"Have you met my boss's husband? Who is also my boyfriend's brother? He's standing right behind you."
"Let's see if you have any decent jewelry...nope. Not a thing here I'd stick in my nose or my eyebrow."
"Are you going to buy something? Or are you just standing by to revive me after I die of embarrassment?"

Tri Ku loves when his Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Lora come to visit.

He likes to show them what he's been learning at school.

Let's see those stupid babies (his little brother and his cousin, born on the same day) do this!

"Vid, I got fired."
"Oh, you poor thing. Don't worry, I should have a nice promotion lined up for me tomorrow. You shouldn't even need to worry about a job when I get it."
"Are you sure? We did claim we had enough financial support-"
"I assure you, whatever little angel from the adoption agency that comes our way will be graciously supported. Now, wait for me in the bedroom. I should be able to perk you up, after I take a bath."
"How is that?"
"Trust me, you'll need a few pillows to bite down on tonight."



Vidcund did get promoted to Ecological Guru the next day.

"You should go meet our new son, Pauper. I think I saw him wander into the water closet."



"Oh, hello Pauper! I'm your daddy! Aren't you a unique one?"



"I mean, unique is an understatement, but I love you anyways!"

This is a personal favourite. It's Marcus and Sofia Baldwin from Belladonna Cove.

ella_in_wonderland and selfmadequeen Aww very cute!

It's the night before the morning Kestrel Hawkins leaves for Sim State. She didn't feel like having a party, so they just had some of the nearest family over.

"Mama's gonna have a baby, Uncle Harris."
"I know! Isn't it great?"
"But Aunt Kestrel's going to college. Don't you think she should stay here and help with it?"
"What for? That baby'll have all of us here, and you, to look after it. You'll be a big sister!"
"That's not as good as an aunt."
"Oh, now, that's up to you, isn't it?"

Dove's Mama Pigeon isn't the only one having a baby, though Sparrow isn't showing yet. "Now, Sparrow, you got to stop all that jogging and yoga stuff, and sit still and eat more! How you expect to feed a baby with no more up top than that?"
"It's not going to be eating my fat reserves, Ma!"
"That's what you think! You think you know what hunger is, but you got no idea."

"Aunt Kestrel, will you help me with my homework?"
"What's a big girl like you need help for?"
"I just want you to. 'Cause after tonight you won't be able to do it anymore."
"Well, you've got a point there. Okay, let's see what you got."

The taxi comes in the wee hours of the morning, when everyone's supposed to be asleep. But pregnant ladies sleep lightly.
"KESTREL! Don't you dare pull out of here without kissing me good-bye!"
"Pigeon! Does Zeke know you're out here in your night things? Get back inside before you and the baby catch your deaths!"

You may recognize these folks as Veronaville's Summerdream Family. I've never played them but during their makeovers and photoshoot they were super cute. I'm falling in love.


I love how they are kinda piled on each other. It shows how informal and carefree they are.

Dove Hawkins and two of her many uncles, Gerry in the background and Harris in the foreground.

Garret Newson holds his son Laus, born during his big sister Guadalupe's birthday party. The little thing seems to object to the mob of people witnessing his birth. His cousin Minerva Newson standing by.

Garret fights his way through the hulaing hordes to put Laus in his crib. Minerva's brother Eugene promptly takes him out again and fights his way back through the hulaing hordes to give him a bottle he doesn't want. Given that he's obviously looking at something else offscreen, I'm inclined to think he's showing off how good he is with babies for the benefit of Guadalupe's family-oriented friend Erika.

"Hey, you, what're you doing, trying to steal my thunder? Don't you go thinking you're all that. I'll keep you in line!" But something weird is happening to Guadalupe, as he reaches out for her face and makes hesitant little burpy cooey sounds. He - likes her. Yeah, she's pretty sure he does. "Aw, you just wanted to be here on my special day, didn't you? Laus is a stupid name. They could've come up with a better name for you than Laus!" Yeah, well, unfortunately Laus was the only site of Marian visions I could remember off the top of my head (apart from Fatima, which is a girl's name, and Medujorge, which as you can see I can't spell), and it was getting late enough I didn't want to take time to do a net search.

The difference between two medieval-age families:

Lord and Lady Darcy own a large estate and mansion. Lady Elanore drinking red wine in the parlour:

Ambrose and Celia Abbott own a one-roomed shack. Ambrose and his daughter Eliza trying to keep warm during the cold winter:

The Darcy's live a luxurious life:

The Abbott's suffer under a repressive rule:

Petra Ottomas has never been around toddlers before - she's never even met her other nephew, Dave - but she's a natural with little Otto!

Samantha tells Sharla the latest dirty joke making the rounds of her high school English classes.

Gracie Hawkins amuses her cousin Dove at Random Newson's birthday party.

Martine Ruben doesn't have a good relationship with her baby brother JJ, but if there's one thing she's learned from her favorite big sister Amanda, it's that you do the job in front of you whether you like it or not. And the job in front of her right now is a very stinky JJ! He keeps feeding himself dog food before anyone around him realizes he's hungry. (I'm beginning to wonder whether that fix for the Ruben brothers' broken face template is working. I keep getting elf ears, and she sure didn't get that delicate chin and jaw from her Mom.)

In stark contrast to the informal Summerdream family portrait, The Capps are even wearing their formal wear in theirs.

This one is being posted before I post the other photos to my LiveJournal, so consider this a preview I guess. :P

Those teens all look like Consort's corralled them by force and they're all about to break loose in their own special ways.

It's Pascal's daughter Mitchella's birthday at the Curious house, and Lazlo brings home a formula that's progressed well enough in the lab to be cleared for human trials. Pascal does his best to put it together for Mitchella; but he's not certain he's got it right. "Is it supposed to smell like that? I'm not sure I can get her to drink it."
"Um, no. I don't know what - no, wait, I do, too. You're supposed to think happy thoughts when you mix it, Pascal! I bet you were brooding."
"Oh for - that cannot possibly matter!"
"I'm telling you, it's the difference between success and failure!"

Crystal and Lazlo, um, lost track of time upstairs and didn't realize Mitchella's birthday party had already started.
"It's easy to tell what you've been doing!"
"EEK! I didn't - oh, crap, let me go get dressed!" Will she ever get used to being a Curious? Why didn't they build that upstairs room big enough to put a wardrobe in?

Crystal mists up a bit, seeing Mitchella so big and so happy. She teaches her to dance and listens to her proud chattering. Tycho crawls right up to Nervous and demands attention. And Pascal and Christy Inada, who Nervous dragged along and then dumped on Pascal to take care of, get into a fascinating discussion on robots.

Vidcund had an experiment at a critical point that he had to monitor himself, so he missed the party, which pisses him off. But Tycho's still up and lively, and seems to get the hang of walking all of a sudden. "My, aren't you a bright boy all of a sudden!"

The lovely Lucy Burb, followed by her younger twin brothers Julian and Adrian.


All the Ottomas kids. David is back visiting from Uni. The littlest ones are triplets: Eli has the brown hair, Asher has the shorter blond hair, Samson has the longer blond hair and special nose shape.


The youngest 4 Ottomas kids in their snowsuits. Tommy in the back and the triplets up front.

Well of course. That's why he's in the back making sure they don't run off. I sense that all of these teens are just itching for some freedom, Grandpa Consort is more than a little uptight. If he only knew how they were when they left the house...well he would never let them leave the house!