F Stop: Shelter Online Exhibit
FStop: Shelter
A Portrait of Oshkosh, Wis. in 2020
(Click the photo to read the photographer's description.)
FStop: Shelter is an online contest and exhibit launched by Oshkosh Public Library to create a diverse picture of life during the beginnings of the COVID-19 global pandemic. The library invited anyone ages 13 and older to submit a photo and story during the period of Sept. 14 – Oct. 16. The photos were to be taken within the last year.
The word “shelter” was chosen to illustrate an extraordinary period in our history. Participants were asked to consider the highly personal and unique meaning of shelter in their lives.
The images and stories in this online display convey deeply personal experiences and emotions. While each photograph is unique to its creator, they all illustrate what it means to seek out a place of safety, stability, beauty, kindness, and hope.
Thank you to all the participants for being a part of this important project. We hope you enjoy exploring the incredible photos of Shelter.
18 and older
A Peaceful Place for Reading
Submitted by: Kelly ReyerBeing stuck in the house for virtual learning, it's important for Dawson to have a peaceful place to unplug and read his favorite books.
A Peaceful Place for Reading
Afternoon Delight
Submitted by: Sharon OlkThis photo of my husband fishing on a beautiful afternoon to me is one of shelter during the current pandemic.
The WI DNR has seen an increase in those applying for fishing licenses. They attribute that to people having more time, or being placed on furloughs. Many of us have gone back to nature during these trying times and fishing relieves stress and provides fresh air. Social distancing is easy to come by when fishing. The great outdoors is a shelter from the pandemic.
Afternoon Delight
An Antique Piano from the Spanish War Era
Submitted by: Jordan CooperOften times I seek emotional and physical refuge at my piano. It never fails, and unlike humans who have their own priorities and emotional issues, it's always undoubtedly there for me. My piano has helped me through stress, break-ups, family fights, family deaths, and many other dire situations. However, it's also helped me succeed immensely. It never tells me to stop practicing but rather encourages me to keep working hard when I make mistakes. It holds me accountable and lets me know when I hit the wrong note, but sings to me and soothes me when I play a beautiful piece. Whatever I'm going through in life I know my piano will always give me refuge, a place to think and let out my emotions. My piano gives me shelter through the good times and the bad, and for that I'm ever grateful to her.
An Antique Piano from the Spanish War Era
Autumn Trail
Submitted by: Sharon OlkNature is a shelter and source of refuge to many during the pandemic. I have found a walk on the many nature trails in our area a source of stress relief. In fact our daily routines have changed to include walks and bike rides.
Autumn Trail
Bringing Music to the Community Through My Senior Recital
Submitted by: Jordan CooperOften times I seek emotional and physical refuge at my piano. It never fails, and unlike humans who have their own priorities and emotional issues, it's always undoubtedly there for me. My piano has helped me through stress, break-ups, family fights, family deaths, and many other dire situations. However, it's also helped me succeed immensely. It never tells me to stop practicing but rather encourages me to keep working hard when I make mistakes. It holds me accountable and lets me know when I hit the wrong note, but sings to me and soothes me when I play a beautiful piece. Whatever I'm going through in life I know my piano will always give me refuge, a place to think and let out my emotions. My piano gives me shelter through the good times and the bad, and for that I'm ever grateful to her.
Bringing Music to the Community Through My Senior Recital
Building Security
Submitted by: Dean MalloyThese images are of my youngest son Simon and I building blocks together. These blocks have been passed down from my childhood from my grandmother and have been used by each of my 5 children. They have provided a fun and safe way to explore and expand creativity. Each of my children are artists and creative souls. As a parent I have provided them with the safe creative shelter to nurture and inspire their hearts with these simple blocks. I believe this creative shelter has given them the foundation to dream, succeed, make mistakes and to build resiliency to keep trying.
Building Security
Colored Houses
Submitted by: Brad DasseyShelter is where people gather to smile. Shelter is where people gather to cry. Shelter is a place you feel safe and sit for awhile. Shelter is a place where you look up at the sky and wonder why.
Colored Houses
Cozy Shelter
Submitted by: ENE PRISCILLA IDOKOI took this image of my friend in her room surround by the things that make that space her shelter. This space is her safe space. This is where she rests, where she rises, where she finds solace, and where she can comfortably let out her emotions. This to me is the meaning of shelter.
Cozy Shelter
Cuddles
Submitted by: Kathy MurphyNothing is sweeter than cuddling a new baby, wanting to shelter her from everything that is not good, forever.
Holding such a little one is especially poignant now, since she came into the world in 2020, a time of such uncertainty.
Cuddles
Gazebo at Sunset
Submitted by: Karissa McDowellGolden hour sunset over looking the lake from the protection of the gazebo. A place to sit, a place to daydream, a place to be at peace sheltered from whatever life has in store.
Gazebo at Sunset
Home
Submitted by: Beth StantonThere is nothing like having 4 safe walls around a person. I am grateful every day for the roof over my head.
Home
Home on the Docks
Submitted by: Jody BezioMany of us have found refuge in outdoor activities during the pandemic. This shelter was found along the river during one of many exploratory walks of Oshkosh.
Home on the Docks
Home to Me
Submitted by: Nicole KnebelShelter to me looks like this. This is where I grew up, and this is what I call home. It is the sound of birds chirping, steers bellering, and tractors running as morning chores begin. The comfort of these sounds bring me a sense of peace and comfort. Many people do not understand it when I say, "Mmm, smells like home." as they are trying to keep themselves from plugging their noses as the scent of steer manure floods their senses. This is the place that I call home, and this is the place that shelters me in the most troubling times.
Home to Me
Isolation exploring on a country path
Submitted by: P. ReinholdFinal Harvest.
Natures Pine Needle Seat Cushion.
Camouflaged in the woods.
It plowed the earth and now the earth is taking it.
It served the fields well and now discarded.
How many miles of fields did it plow?
How many hours in the tractor seat?
How many families were fed from what it sowed in its lifetime?
Sun Up to Sun Down.
Rain Sleet Snow Sun Fog Mist or Global Crisis
Isolation exploring on a country path
Jacob is Shelter
Submitted by: Emma SchroederI have had an interesting life to say the least. Many things feel very uncomfortable to me, but I have always had someone to be there for me who felt comfortable. During COVID, I worked many long hours as a CNA at a facility that was populated with COVID positive residents. Taking the chance of taking COVID home with me was nerve racking, but I always had Jacob to reassure me everything would be alright. He was always there for me after work with something yummy to eat for dinner taking the risk that both of us could have COVID. Luckily neither of us were compromised by COVID and both remain healthy.
Jacob is Shelter
My Father
Submitted by: Amber HuserMy shelter is my Father, which may seem like an abnormal definition of a shelter. At first I tried to think of my room or my house but those arent what make me feel safe. It is my Dad. He has been giving me so much comfort and love during these hard times and he makes me feel safe and calms me down that everything will be okay.
My Father
My Safe Place
My Shelter
Submitted by: Muzi SitshelaShelter can be defined as something that protects you from harmful things. The people in this picture are my 'shelter'. They protect me from harm, whether that be sadness or poor decisions, I can always count on these three to protect me.
My Shelter
Nature as an Escape
Submitted by: Kelly ReyerWhen school went virtual this past spring, followed by the rules for quarantining, our family made sure to spend time outdoors every single day. We found our time in nature allowed us safety and space away from others, while also bringing us a sense of peace.
Nature as an Escape
Nature as an Escape
Submitted by: Kelly ReyerWhen school went virtual this past spring, followed by the rules for quarantining, our family made sure to spend time outdoors every single day. We found our time in nature allowed us safety and space away from others, while also bringing us a sense of peace.
Nature as an Escape
No matter what
Submitted by: Rachel ChapinParenting with a disability is hard work. In these times we cant take anything for granted. There are moments of shelter in the storm. My daughter knows how hard it is for her father to get out of his wheelchair to get on the floor to play with her. We shelter each other emotionally as the world goes on around us.
No matter what
Over the Clouds
Submitted by: Brandon LencznerShelter is where one feels safe and at peace. To me, I am at the most peace at the highest level of danger. When I am able to look down upon the world, thousands of feet above the clouds, that is where I feel pure bliss. Whether it be jumping out of an airplane, or just simply riding in one, nothing compares to the feeling of floating above the world.
Over the Clouds
Palm-demic Tree
Submitted by: Jody BezioCreative outdoor spaces provide shelter from isolation. EnJOY some time with me under this Palm-demic Tree.
Palm-demic Tree
Real
Submitted by: Kellie PribbernowMy son has found shelter in his favorite stuffed animal for ten years now. I had thought, perhaps, he might outgrow this source of refuge. But to my delight, the bond between monkey and boy has only grown stronger. During difficult seasons, however short or long, he knows he can seek comfort in the worn fur and loose joints of his lifelong friend, who is incapable of doing him any harm.
“Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.” --Margery Williams Bianco, The Velveteen Rabbit
Real
Refuge
Submitted by: Sawyer EricksonThe word shelter is most often used to describe a place of safety and evoke a feeling of comfort. In a time of confusion, contempt, and chaos it’s not that simple.
Every day the anxieties of our lives change who we are and who we will become. We have to find a place to weather the storm and seek safety. Physically, mentally, emotionally. Sometimes the best place to find that is in the mundane things we already do and know so well.
For me, that’s what this photo represents. A break from the stress of the day. In the comfort of a familiar place. A shelter from the world and a refuge of my own.
Refuge
Safety
Sail Away
Submitted by: Jed CarlsonAn otherwise populated marina becomes a ghost town as the pandemic surges on. A wife finds her solace on her sailboat harbored in the bay. The air feels empty and quiet as the water laps against the boat's hull. Other sailboats chime in with their halyards playing against their masts. The wind howls through the standing rigging creating an almost eerie yet somehow soothing addition. What once was filled with the sounds of engines firing, people laughing and singing is now replaced with gentle melodies created by the sounds of the harbor. A new place to find peace and shelter in a rather trying time.
Sail Away
Serene Sunrise
Submitted by: Brad DasseyPsalm 91
1
Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High
will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
2
I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”
Serene Sunrise
Serenity in my Sanctuary
Submitted by: Sarah FlemingThis is my room, and it is my shelter. This is the place that I work in, I play in, I laugh in, I cry in. I spend 12 hours a day in this room, sometimes more. It is a safe space for me, a place that I can truly be myself in without the judgemental eyes of others. It is the place I can truly call my own. With the only light illuminating my room coming from string lights, time stands still while I watch a movie on my computer accompanied by a bowl of popcorn. I escape into the world of the movie and leave my troubles behind my door.
Serenity in my Sanctuary
Shelter - 4x4 Style
Submitted by: Jacob SmithThis year I finally graduated college and decided to celebrate by buying a truck and rooftop tent. Social distancing is easy when you are miles deep into the backroads of Montana. It was the perfect shelter as it allowed me to safely leave the house and go explore to get my mind off of the current events that were happening. Sometimes the best therapy is a weekend spent camping in the woods with no cell service!
Shelter - 4x4 Style
Shelter from the Storm
Submitted by: Ireland O'MarroWe were watching the storm ride out at the Francis Hardly art museum in Door County. We had to stay for the amazing picture opportunity.
Shelter from the Storm
Shelter Homes
Submitted by: Jenna JorgensenWhen I think of shelter I think of a place that has a roof. The first photo is a book that looks just like a roof, It symbolizes that all you need for a home or shelter is a roof that can protect you from the outside world. To me, a shelter is something that has a roof that you can live under.
Shelter Homes
Shelter Homes
Submitted by: Jenna JorgensenMy second photo is a little storage garage, and to me, it symbolizes that all you need is something that you can call home. It doesn't matter if it is big and it doesn't matter is it is small as long as you have something that has a roof over your head. Also, the photo has open doors and I think shelters are very welcoming and let anyone in. To me, a shelter is something that has a roof that you can live under.
Shelter Homes
Shelter in the Garden
Submitted by: Claire KoeppIn the mornings and when the rain begins to fall, I have caught several bees finding shelter underneath the little blooms of an Autumn Joy Sedum. What a beautiful canopy to wait out a storm. I’ve spied bumbles who have made their bed on a Zinnia and wasps peeking out of the folds of the petals of Dahlias. Sometimes I feel like the bees when I’m tending beneath the towering blooms and petals – snuggled in with the foliage while I’m therapeutically removing weeds that threaten its ability to thrive. I’m finding shelter, too, in the garden - leaving behind the big world and its concerns for a little while and joining the bees & butterflies in their own ecosystem.
Shelter in the Garden
Simply Live
Submitted by: Kim PetersonI believe sheltering has forced a lot of us to stop our overly busy hectic lives & start living simple, start taking in the everyday simple things around us, like sunrises, again. These two rode their bikes to Menominee park to watch the sunrise & it was beautiful.
Simply Live
Summer Time
Submitted by: Skylar M VollendorfOur black lab Cam came into our lives four summers ago. The moment she walked into our house it was like she was home and our family was complete. Having cam in our lives, made us get back into the things that we loved. We started hiking more as well as finding trips that allowed her to come along. When I think of shelter I think of the word "home." Along with that what goes into a home, and what goes into a home for me is family. Family is what holds things together whether they have 2 legs or 4. Having cam come into our lives was a blessing and brought our family together.
Summer Time
Sunset
Submitted by: Samantha BaltzellThis image is a sunset over part of the UW Oshkosh campus. UW Oshkosh has been my shelter for over a year now. It has provided me a physical place to stay and place for emotional security during the instability of the pandemic.
Sunset
The Guardian
Submitted by: Kelsey Faust-KubaleFamily is all around. It just depends on how you view it. This family has allowed me into their home over the last year and has shared with me their story and life through the historic record. Their story has shown me that we are all together under the same roof at all times, just in different parts of the house.
The Guardian
Unto the Breach
Submitted by: Kelsey Faust-KubaleThis is one of the only places outside my home I have felt protected, entertained, and at peace throughout this year.There is a deep sense of calm I feel walking down this hallway and sensing the wonder that is to come through that door.
Unto the Breach
Wandering my Spring Garden 2020
Submitted by: P. ReinholdIsolation allows time to wander and notice natures details.
What do you see?
A surprise discovery.
Hidden in my perennial garden.
Perfect camouflage.
Newborns.
Watching them grow.
Their eyes are open.
How many kits?
How many sets of ears.
Comfort & warmth in cuddling together.
Is the mother rabbit near?
Plenty of food in the garden.
A quick check and they are no longer in their nest.
Going to miss watching.
Less perennials bloom this year.
Lots of nutritious delights close.
2021 will be a prolific year for the next generation.
Wandering my Spring Garden 2020
Warm Colors
Submitted by: ENE PRSICILLA IDOKOthis image was taken while surrounded by fresh air, good friends, warm food, joy, and laughter. Looking back at it, it reminds me of home, and of shelter. The term doesn't necessarily mean being cooped inside. To me, it represents a warm feeling when you think of home and being surrounded by warm love.
Warm Colors
13-17 years old
Bird's nest with Daisy
Submitted by: Andreas CerneyI was walking around looking for warm colors and cool shots and I really like the picture I got with a daisy on the birds nest, I think this picture represents shelter because this is where a bird used to sleep for shelter and survival and we are sheltering in homes these days for survival from getting sick during this pandemic.
Bird's nest with Daisy
Long Road Home
Submitted by: Hope A. KupczykThis Picture, taken in Alden, Michigan while I was on a trip visiting family there, captures my idea of shelter, or home in a few different ways. My idea of home, of safety and comfort, isn't a place. It's people. My home is where my family and loved ones are, and usually, we spend the most time together while on the road, driving to visit family members far away, or see new places. This picture is of the road we travel down most often while away from home, and it will always be a comfort to see. So, for me, shelter is no shelter at all, as long as my family is there, I'm happy to be out on the open road.
Long Road Home
Nature
Submitted by: Jaiden MalloyNature is a shelter to everything. But it’s more than just a shelter. It’s a provider for all of us. None of us would be here if it wasn’t for the ultimate shelter, nature.
Nature
Nature at its finest
Submitted by: Kimberly BinningThis picture of a yellow canary is one of my most prized possessions this was at a aviary so I didn’t harm the bird when taking the picture, when taking pictures i lawmakers sure my subjects are safe even if they alive or not.
Nature at its finest
On Wheels
Submitted by: Isabelle CartwrightHome and shelter, words used interchangeably but couldn’t be more apart. Shelter can be any roof over your head, where a home is specific to you. Your life and love all wrapped up into the place you stay to protect you from the travels ahead.
On Wheels
Our Sunset at South Park
Submitted by: Carolina Moreno-GillstromIn this picture, my family is looking at the sunset during one of our daily walks in South Park. We walk, talk, take pictures, look at bugs, squirrels, and sometimes feed the ducks. It's a peaceful and great time to exercise during our form of sheltering together.
Our Sunset at South Park
shelter can be anywhere
Submitted by: Chantell Ownesshelter can be preserved to be buildings or houses or somewhere warm but I feel like we should look a little deeper and think a little deeper. This photo is of me and my best friend I can find shelter in her. Shelter doesn't always have to be a building. You can find warmth in friends or family. I can feel safe with her. I can make a memory with her. I can feel,see,hear all the same thing with her instead of just a building or house.
shelter can be anywhere
Togetherness - Our Daily Walk
Submitted by: Carolina Moreno-GillstromThis picture is of my family on our daily walks in South Park. We walk, talk, take pictures, and sometimes feed the ducks. It's a lovey and great time to exercise during our form of sheltering together.
Togetherness - Our Daily Walk