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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think I could never create a photofit?

22 replies

SinkGirl · 12/03/2019 13:19

I look at photo fits and wonder how anyone creates one from a short glimpse of someone. I think I’d struggle to make one for my DH or my sister. Even my sons, the faces I know best, I still struggle to picture them when I close my eyes - I’ve aleays struggled to recall visual things. Is that weird? Can everyone else do that?

OP posts:

lidoshuffle · 12/03/2019 13:24

I'm the same, Sink. Everyone looks pretty much alike when it comes to describing them; two eyes, nose, mouth. There's a bit of variation in colour, age, sex but that's about it.

Apparently the police have"super-recognisers" who are shit-hot in recognising people. the antithesis of me.

goldengummybear · 12/03/2019 13:25

I'm the same. I witnessed a crime and it was really hard to describe the criminal even though it was broad daylight and he was pretty close (distance) to me.

lidoshuffle · 12/03/2019 13:30

Funny thing is, though I don't have much of a visual memory, I'm really good at remembering textures - I can remember the feel of things from over 50 years ago.

BlueMerchant · 12/03/2019 13:30

I can't remember faces at all.I'm sure as I age it gets worse too.My OH instantly recognises people he has met just once. He even knows their eye colour.

happinessischocolate · 12/03/2019 13:35

Same, I've got complete facial blindness.

If there's 2 actors in a film who have similar height and colouring I will mix them up for the whole film.

Tunnockswafer · 12/03/2019 13:36

I think this too. Not good with faces or names - am a teacher so it’s a bugger.

BiscuitDrama · 12/03/2019 13:37

I’d be good at recognising them, but there’s no way I could describe beyond the obvious, like rough age, hair colour and length and height.

user1474894224 · 12/03/2019 13:39

So pleased to read this. I have face blindness. Films are a nightmare for me as I literally have no idea who is who. I used to joke that every date I went on was a blind date ...next even though I will have met the person probably once before I couldn't remember what they look like. I can remember what someone says though. I could now do close friends photo fit....I think. But never a stranger.

SrSteveOskowski · 12/03/2019 13:41

DH is like this. He couldn't describe what a person looked like to save his life. Literally! He'd be in trouble if he was mugged.
I was meeting one of his work colleagues recently. I'd spoken to him a few times and asked DH what he looked like. DH's reply was "Ah, he's tallish, I think"

Met him and he was 6'4", completely grey (at 34) and had the pointiest nose and chin ever, If you fell on him, you could suffer a nasty injury!
Anyway, he turned out to be a lovely guy but how DH missed out on his VERY distinguishing features, I can't understand.

OMGithurts · 12/03/2019 13:44

I have this problem. I watched The Departed. Confused the life out of me. Thought that Leo DiCaprio and Matt Damon were the same person because I couldn't remember their faces from one scene to the next.

I'm slightly better with women's faces than mens.

thecatneuterer · 12/03/2019 13:45

I also have a mild form of face blindness. I actually witnessed a murder. And I looked at (one) of the murderers (gang thing) full in the face for some time. All I could come up with as a description was black and young. I refused to do a line up as I knew I wouldn't have a clue. When I eventually saw a photo of him after he was convicted I didn't recognise him at all.

I have to know someone very well indeed before I recognise them. I once was chatting to someone in a salsa club for around 20 minutes at the bar. I went to the loo and when I came back saw three men standing at the bar and I had no idea which one I'd been talking to.

Oh and films and dramas - no chance.

TheHolySmirk · 12/03/2019 13:47

It must be pretty common, some of the photofits you see published barely look human.

Reallyevilmuffin · 12/03/2019 13:48

Yes. Also I really cannot remember what people are wearing. As a child I used to panic if I left my mother until very old just because I would have to get a full on face shot of her to recognise her

thecatneuterer · 12/03/2019 13:48

I'm slightly better with women's faces than mens. Me too. I'm best with young, white women. Middle aged women are more difficult, and so are non white women. Then behind them come men, and again I find white men easier than non white (I saw a programme on the science behind that phenomenon).

Charles11 · 12/03/2019 13:52

Oh me too! I have to meet someone about 3 times before I remember their face. It’s quite embarrassing when I bump into people I’ve met once or twice and can’t remember them.
I’m ok with following people on a film but won’t recognise them in another film until I’ve seen them in a few films.
I also can’t automatically figure out left and right. It takes a second or two of thinking time.

lidoshuffle · 12/03/2019 14:09

Someone recognised me, 30 years on, from when he last saw me which was when I was Saturday girl in a shop. I'd moved 300 miles away at 18 so he'd never seen me in the interim. Incredible (unless I still looked like teenager in my mid 40s! ).

UtterlyUnimaginativeUsername · 12/03/2019 14:13

I've seen all of Game of Thrones twice but it was only today, while reading a wiki, that I realised Ros was actually a recurring character and not just a load of different prostitutes.

I hated going into SCBU when DS was in there as a baby because they used to move the cots around and I would never know which small bundle was DS. It was mortifying.

Original poster

SinkGirl · 12/03/2019 14:13

Glad it’s not just me.

Weirdly I’m very good at recognising people - if we watch a film I can pick out an actor I’ve seen before and usually tell DH exactly what they were in even if it was a tiny part, if I have a bit of time to think. If it’s taking me a while I can often remember small details like they were a nurse or they had different colour hair or whatever.

I just can’t picture things when I close my eyes - a rough shape of a person, hair colour maybe but that’s it.

I just looked at a piece of furniture for ten seconds then closed by eyes and couldn’t picture it at all - maybe this is what happens to everyone!

OP posts:

pineapplebryanbrown · 12/03/2019 14:14

OMG The Departed is a great film but I had to watch it several times to distinguish Leo DiCaprio and Matt Damon - how on earth can anyone tell them apart? In fact, everyone in that film looks the same.

Original poster

SinkGirl · 12/03/2019 14:14

I also can’t automatically figure out left and right. It takes a second or two of thinking time

Me too

OP posts:

pineapplebryanbrown · 12/03/2019 14:15

I was once on a date and asked a man what colour his hair was. He said "you are looking at me and asking me what colour my hair is". I cunningly covered it up by sayng "well, of course. What I meant was - what colour do you feel your hair is".

ShirleyPhallus · 12/03/2019 14:46

You might all enjoy this: www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/the-top-ten-worlds-worst-photofits-433615

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