My mother passed away some 35-odd years away, and it really took me by surprise when I found out my little sister could visualise her and describe her from memory. I, on the other hand, could m and can recognise photos of her, but when describing her soul resort to learned facts: she was very pretty, slim, had brown hair and eyes, etc., etc.
Where the story turns, though, is how I remember things, as opposed to my academic (research professor) and artistic (painter/sculptor, and thus extremely visually oriented) wife. She continually misplaces her keys or glasses, for example. I have learnt to notice items, like them them amongst other things, and link them narritively (glasses on lounge table, keys on dishwasher, mask on sink…) and can then recall that without any real effort at a later stage.
It also fascinates her that I can read something like a programming manual like a story book and recall enough of it afterwards to put it into practice using the same manual only as a reference afterwards.
Horses for courses, I suppose.