Keeping family in the picture at Christmas
IT’S the most wonderful time of the year.
And while most of us will be spending Christmas with our loved ones, one man will also be capturing his family’s every moment.
Neil Asher, from Neath, has filmed moments from every Christmas with his family over the past 16 years.
He even changed his career to become a professional film-maker/videographer off the back of filming his family.
He’s managed to capture the excitement of Christmas morning year on year while his children grow up.
He said: “My wife was pregnant and I realised that I had no footage of me as a child.
“I recently bumped into an old neighbour of mine and he told me that there was a few minutes of me as an 18-month-old baby on cine film. Since then I’ve been filming everything and I wanted to have something to look back on – especially the kids.
“When I first started filming years ago, I never expected that video would be as big as it is now.
“We have made our own traditions, I’ve realised the same things happen each year, it’s occurred naturally from the first one,” he said.
The 46-year-old was then able to turn his hobby into a profession.
He added: “The kids are teenagers now. So we maintain a tradition, the children have some journey to relate to, something to look back on on rainy days.
“Then I got into it professionally. I was a graphic designer and I have lectured at Swansea Met in art and design, I live in Neath, but my business was in Cardiff.
“I recorded some stuff about family holidays in France and Britanny and put it on the internet.
“Someone contacted me from Britanny Ferries and said: ‘If you don’t do this work professionally, then you should do.’
“It’s become a second career.
“We’ve experienced these things together, I think the children love the experience rather than loathe it.”
Mr Asher will be featuring in a new BBC1 documentary with his family on Sunday which showcases rare amateur movies of Christmas and the new year in Wales from the last century.
The 46-year-old is looking forward to watching his footage broadcast to the country.
“It was a lovely moment watching the footage back, I can’t wait to watch the show, I have told all my friends to watch,” he said. ■ Wales’s Christmas Home Movies will be on BBC One Wales at 5.05pm on Sunday.