You might have noticed some changes at Outdoors Magic in the last couple of months: a brighter, easier to use, more modern platform for a start, a new logo too. But just as importantly, we’ve started working with top outdoors photographer Lukasz Warzecha to bring you really stunning images of the products we review.

The idea is to show gear being used, properly, in an outdoor environment. Being worn. So you can see exactly how it looks.

All of which is easy to say, but not always quite as easy to achieve. Take our recent shots for the Best Women’s Waterproof Jackets feature. Ever noticed how mostly waterproof jackets are photographed, well, in the dry?

That seemed wrong to us, so we decided we’d photograph them properly, in the rain. The trouble with that though, is that even in the notoriously wet Peak District, where we review kit, rain isn’t very cooperative.

It never arrives when you book it, is usually the wrong consistency, and frequently comes with really bad light. On top of that, it has a tendency to destroy very expensive professional camera equipment.

The Ingredients

So what do you do? Well, what we did was get hold of a 33 amp-hour car booster pack and a 12v operated mountain bike power washer and carry them, along with our models for the day Dave and Emmy, up onto the flanks of Kinder.

Once there, we set up our very own outdoors rain room in the midst of the sheep and the tussocks and the moors. Remote Speedlite flashes and diffusers optimised the light.

Then we took it in turns to wield the (not particularly) high-powered jet-wash and fend off the local wildlife – mostly curious sheep – while Lukasz focussed on capturing our test jackets in all their glorious dripping wetness.