ABC News correspondent Jay Schadler opens a new gallery and studio in downtown Portsmouth.

Journalist, photographer and artist Jay Schadler has tracked Bengal tigers in India, followed the Ebola virus in Africa, explored Mayan archaeological discoveries in Belize, observed a tomb opening at the Great Pyramids in Egypt, and reported on the destruction of koala bear habitat in Australia, among other adventures. But he’s found that you don’t have to travel far to find a compelling news story.

Schadler, who recently opened a gallery and studio in downtown Portsmouth, has worked for nearly 30 years as a correspondent and anchor for ABC News. Looking back, he said his favorite journalistic experiences came during a series of hitchhiking treks around the United States beginning in 1995. Starting on Plum Island in Massachusetts, equipped with two cameras and followed by a small production crew, he stuck out his thumb and embarked on a cross-country trip.

“In 10 days I crossed the country, 35 rides,” Schadler said. “It reminded me that the most compelling, remarkable, outlandishly surprising stories are in that next car, around that next corner, if you just open yourself to it.”

Over the next three years, Schadler hitchhiked roughly 20,000 miles, contributing special reports to ABC and an 11-part series to Bravo. The final trip ended in Michigan with an appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” where the host brought out several guests who had picked him up over the years.

“It really opened my eyes,” Schadler said. “I still would say that my hitchhiking days were the most powerful, journalistically, for me.”

Schadler still spends half of every year on the road chasing stories for ABC News programs like “20/20,” “PrimeTime,” “Good Morning America,” “World News” and “Nightline.” He’s also done special reports for National Geographic TV, Discovery and PBS, winning two Emmy Awards in the process.

When he’s not traveling, Schadler makes art, much of which is now on display at 82 Fleet St., former location of Odyssey & Oracle record store. The space includes a ground-level gallery and basement studio, with large photos covering the walls and two iPad stations loaded with thousands of archived images.

As an artist, Schadler brings a painterly imagination to his journalistic approach, digitally altering some images to invoke dreamlike qualities. He said two of his biggest inspirations are realist painter Edward Hopper and surrealist painter Salvador Dali. As an example of the former, he pointed to a simple photo of a strikingly yellow house framed by blue sky. For the latter, he referenced a dreamier piece depicting a zebra in a spotlight in front of a dark, blurry audience. He had captured the audience at a traveling “horror circus” in England and photographed the zebra a week later in Africa.

“I took the zebra I had shot in Africa and put him on the stage of this horror circus show,” he explained. “There’s something very odd and curious about the relationship between these people looking at this animal, and vice-versa.”

Other photos depict familiar Seacoast scenes, such as snow-covered Wagon Hill Farm in Durham and the Portsmouth shoreline as seen from Peirce Island. Shadler said he considers Portsmouth one of the best small cities in the world.

A native of Michigan, he said he moved to the area because he was attracted to New England’s historic character. He settled in Massachusetts after visiting a church in Quincy and discovering that the tombs of John Adams and John Quincy Adams and their wives were buried underneath it. 

“Two presidents and their wives buried in the basement of the church. I was just stunned and committed at that point to living in New England,” he said.

For six years, Schadler had a large gallery in Amesbury, along with a smaller one on Plum Island, where he lived. But he later moved to Dover with his wife, and the commute to Amesbury became too hectic. The space in Portsmouth is smaller, but Schadler believes that will work to his advantage.

“It’s so different than my other studio, but I love it because of its size,” he said. “I’m really trying to do as much with the small space as possible, and a lot of things in technology are helping me with that.”

As a journalist, Schadler has found himself in several life-threatening situations. He’s reported from war-torn regions of Central America, where he was “petrified all the time.” He’s taken a 30-foot fall while rappelling down from the rainforest canopy in Africa. While hitchhiking in Nashville, he got a ride from three men in a pickup truck who he later found out were wanted for armed robbery.

“But that was the exception to the rule,” he said. “Nearly all people are really too busy trying to make a life to spend time thinking about trying to hurt anybody else. I have tremendous faith in the average person.”

That’s part of the reason Schadler tries to make art that uplifts and inspires people. Art does not have to be grim or gothic to be cutting edge, he said. 

“The bottom line is that I’m looking for a pretty picture. It’s not anything more difficult than that, and not anything easier, either,” he said.

The gallery will also fulfill Schadler’s lifelong dream of sweeping the sidewalk in front of his own little shop. A sign above the gallery’s front door shows an image of a man hunched over as he pushes a broom across an alley, based on a photo Schadler took early one morning in Spain. He now sees himself in that man. 

But, whether he’s adventuring halfway around the globe or working on a portrait in his studio, Schadler sees himself first and foremost as a storyteller.

“That is the defining characteristic of being a human being: you tell stories,” he said. “It’s such a great blessing to be able to tell wonderful, interesting stories over the years. I think the pictures are little snapshots of those experiences and stories.”

Editor’s note: Our editor's wife and Wire staff writer, Chloe Johnson, works part-time at the Jay Schadler Gallery.