Gilbert McCarragher talks about his photo story on Derek Jarman's eclectic home

While its garden is well-trodden, Prospect Cottage’s interiors remained largely private after famed film director Derek Jarman died in 1994. The photographs and essays in my book on Prospect Cottage explain my experience of being inside Prospect, revealing the care given to it by Derek’s companion Keith Collins across 24 years following Derek’s death, before Keith too sadly passed away. 

In 2018, Keith became unwell with a previously undiagnosed brain tumor. Friends and neighbors became very concerned for him and for what his illness might mean for Prospect, to which he had so dutifully tended. During this uncertainty, I was asked to photograph the cottage to record how it was at that moment.

The photos were taken between 2018 and 2022. I originally planned to photograph inside the cottage only, with glimpses of the garden through windows and doorways, partly because I felt the garden had been so extensively photographed there was little point me adding to that discourse. But as time went by, I realized I needed to photograph outside Prospect as well, as otherwise I was telling just half the story, and not revealing the dialogue happening between the inside and the outside.

Initially, I photographed each wall and corner as a true inventory. However, I realized that, while capturing ‘everything’, those shots missed what Prospect Cottage was about. My approach soon became a journey of exploration and experimentation, as I allowed myself to be led round Prospect by the mood, the light, my memories of Prospect before Keith died, the weather… whatever seemed right. 

On visiting Keith previously, Prospect had always seemed a peculiar mix of histories: in part a museum-memorial, in part a living home. But the more I spent time there with my camera, the more my understanding developed of how the house had been used – and perhaps seen – by its residents. 

My idea for the series evolved as I came to see that, while Prospect’s history was heavily punctuated by Derek’s and Keith’s deaths, it was ultimately one story of love to which each man added pages.

As an architectural photographer, I generally work methodically, planning and bracketing exposures widely. When I have to work fast to capture a moment, though, I know I can rely on the dynamic range offered by my Nikon D800E. I used Nikon PC-E 24mm f/3.5 tilt-shift lens, Nikon AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8 and Nikon AF-S 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses, along with a Manfrotto tripod with a three-way pan/tilt head. 

Having time to properly engage with Prospect Cottage was a hugely enjoyable experience, allowing it to reveal to me how it wanted to be seen. But it was not without its challenges. Prospect can be dark, especially when it’s bright outside. Balancing the exposure was at times a challenge, though one my D800E was up for. 

Having taken down the cottage’s net curtains partway through the shoot, it also became somewhat challenging to get a clean shot of a room without someone’s nose pressed against a window! 

Prospect Cottage: Derek Jarman’s House

Prospect Cottage: Derek Jarman’s House, by Gilbert McCarragher, is published by Thames & Hudson.