The ability of photographic memory
People with photographic memories say that can see pages in their mind's eyes and easily read them. The truth of such memory has been demonstrated repeatedly, with people reciting whole pages from one look or after once read. Also, some people have ability to recall situations and scenes, names, words, and numbers with remarkable precision. Photographic memory embraces also, memorizing shapes, colors with their full tones, proportions, even recalling the spirit of a scene or of a character with intimate and intensified feelings for those moments/objects/people. Having a strong memory relies on neuroplasticity of the brain, or the brain's ability to reorganize itself over time by breaking and forming new connections.
Alan Searleman, a professor of psychology at St. Lawrence University in New York, says eidetic imagery comes closest to being photographic. When shown an unfamiliar image for 30 seconds, so-called "eidetikers" can vibrantly describe the image. Eidetic memory is the ability to recall images in great details for several minutes. Children are more likely to possess eidetic memory than adults even though they begin losing the ability after age six and psychologists don't know why children lose this ability.
Leonardo da Vinci is believed to have had a photographic memory. He could draw a detailed portrait of someone after a single meeting. Another person, Napoleon Bonaparte, could glance at a map and thereafter, recall every town, hill and stream on it.
Of course, people vary in their ability to remember the past. How well we remember things depends largely on how well we pay attention when material is presented. Furthermore, the extent to which we echo the material in our minds and relate it to what we already know affects our ability to remember.
I believe very much in such ability from my own experience. One day, I had watched a movie where I was influenced so much by the actress's character and her loyalty to her husband. I felt for her so much that when went home, I had created an oil painting capturing her portrait from memory. My father found it so real and exact that he thought of sending it as a gift to the actress but I could not let go. I also, recall when someone commissioned me to paint a portrait of her mother in law to surprise her husband within their Anniversary since her husband loved his mother so much but lost her in death, she told me that the photo she had was very small, yellowish and has no details showing. I told her that was ok yet, I asked her many questions about her mother in law's character, what she was like, what she liked and disliked etc. From knowing more about her character, I could paint it right. How did I know? When she came to pick up the painting, after was done, her reaction when looked at it, from her facial expression and from what she said" Oh my goodness, she is a live! She is back to life!
No wonder why Francesco Clemente said, “I never paint a portrait from a photograph, because a photograph doesn't give enough information about what the person feels."
