I have total aphantasia and this is how I usually answer: it's like having a picture of my mother in my head, only for it to be obfuscated by an opaque veil, and there's a system in my mind that can peak behind it and feed me informations. In the end: I can never visualise her, but I can "query" informations, and when I see her I match her immediately with what I know her to look like.

She's 5 ft tall, sharp features, curly white hair. i can remember imagery facts, but have not visual memory

But if you only remember facts, can someone else pretend to be that person you remember with those facts?

No, memory is not limited to facts. There's just no visualization to go along with the recollection of faces etc. You can absolutely still recognize people correctly when looking at them.

I'm also an aphant. Recognition still happens. I'll see a person I haven't seen in years, know that I know them, then finally remember who they are much later. Even though I can't picture them after seeing them, I'll still remember who they are much later. Usually, anyway.

I get stressed out having to meet someone I haven't seen for a long time in a cafe or something. I have to scan everyone and wait for that ping of recognition to happen.

That's a fascinating question - I'm aphantasic and mildly face blind (I thought the two female leads in Disclosure Day were the same person for most of the movie and that we were jumping back and forth in her timeline). I've always assumed I'm face blind because of the aphantasia, but I know several aphantasics who have no problem recognising faces.

In answer to the question though, no - even as someone with face blindness, the faces of people I've known and loved for a long time are burned in somewhere - I just can't access that part of my brain at will.

Wife is the opposite - I still surprise her when I shave my beard without telling her. She doesn't seem to have any trouble visualizing though.

For reference, she didn't know the twins from "Property Brothers" were twins until I told her, after watching about, say, 6 seasons together.

Heh. I hate that about movies. Then when I finally figure out who is who, one of them changes their hairstyle and I have to figure it out all over again!

It's like the two Ryans who insist on pretending they're different people.

What does that mean? You can recite a description you’ve read or heard, but what about looking at a photo and describing it?

I can describe someone from memory, and I can draw them, but I can't see them unless they're in front of me (or I'm looking at a photo).

Can you draw them and then look at the drawing? I'm just wondering about the "bootstrap" ability, for lack of a better term.

I'm not sure what you're asking. Of course I can look at the drawing. But it still doesn't produce any image that persist when I'm not looking at it.

I guess I'm wondering about the fidelity, but I'm not sure what exactly I meant. Copy-of-a-copy kind of effect, basically.

After looking at a photo? I have a memory of the "facts" of the photograph. I have no image of it

This is not a memory nor a detail recall issue. The visual part is just not there, but I know how my mother looks like :)

Not really how it works. I can describe an apple to you in great detail. I cannot imagine all of those things I described in a coherent image in my head. Personally sometimes I'm able to picture pieces or aspects of it for flashes but I cannot see an apple in my head.