Drone Vista Scotland: NC500 Documentary Project

Aim

Aerial cinematography of Scotland's NC500 proving disability won't stop me. Raising funds for the MS Society one flight at a time. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳�

My name is Mark Ireland. I am a 47 year old aerial cinematographer based in Perth, Scotland, and the founder of Drone Vista Scotland. I am also a Type 1 diabetic living with gastroparesis, Splints on my legs due to dropfoot and peripheral neuropathy. I have been managing my condition for most of my adult life, and while it shapes every single day, it has never stopped me and I am determined it never will.

I work alone. There is no team, no production company, no financial backer behind this project. It is just me, my DJI Air 3 drone, and an absolute refusal to let my health dictate what I am capable of achieving.

The Idea

Later this year I am planning to drive and document the entire North Coast 500  Scotland's iconic 516-mile coastal route  capturing it entirely from the air in 4K aerial cinematography. Every castle, every sea loch, every mountain pass, every stretch of wild Highland coastline. All of it documented through the lens of a drone, by a man who on some days struggles to walk more than a few steps.

The NC500 is considered a challenging trip for anyone. For someone managing multiple chronic health conditions, it is a serious undertaking. But that is precisely the point. I am not doing this despite my disability. I am doing it to prove that disability does not have to define you and to raise vital funds for a cause that is deeply personal to me.

Why the MS Society

My mother has lived with progressive MS for over twenty years. I have watched her fight that disease most of her adult life with a quiet, stubborn dignity that I can only try to match. She has never complained, never given up, and never stopped being the strongest person I know. This trip is for her, and for every family that knows what it means to watch someone you love live with a condition that cannot be cured.

Every penny raised beyond my costs goes directly to the MS Society to fund research into progressive MS the most aggressive and least understood form of the disease.

The Vision

Drone Vista Scotland exists to show Scotland the way it deserves to be seen from above, in full detail, with the history and the landscape and the raw beauty of this country given the space they need. I have already shot over twenty five locations across Perthshire and beyond, and the NC500 documentary will be the most ambitious project I have ever taken on.

The finished documentary will be released publicly and freely, used to raise awareness of the MS Society, and submitted as a creative record of what one determined, disabled Scotsman managed to achieve on a shoestring budget, alone, in all weathers, with a drone called Harry.

How the Money Will Be Used

The £2,400 target covers the real, honest costs of making this trip happen:

•⁠  ⁠Fuel for the full 516-mile NC500 route and return journey

•⁠  ⁠Accommodation across seven nights on the road

•⁠  ⁠Food and essential supplies throughout the trip

•⁠  ⁠Any equipment costs required to complete the documentary

Nothing is marked up. Nothing goes into my pocket beyond covering what the trip actually costs me. This is about making the project happen, nothing more.

If you believe that disability should not be a ceiling, that one person with a drone and a determination to prove something can create something genuinely worth watching then please back this project. Every single pound gets me one step closer to that Highland coastline, camera rolling, proving my mum right.

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 6th November 2026 at 11:59pm