Laravel public directory and storage directory

I've been playing with this for a little while and cant seem to figure it out.

Here is the scenario. I'm looking to upload user files on a multi user website so they go into their respective folders. If i upload everything into the public directory (have already built functions) - everything works fine but its not going to be secure....however if i upload in to the storage directory i seem to have problems accessing it after the fact.

Can someone give me suggestion/point me in the right directing as to how I would go about accessing those files from the storage directory (download and show image preview with <img src="" />.

Any help appreciated! Using Laravel 5.1 on WAMP

P.S. I have read a tonn of articles online and here on stackoverflow to no avail...

via Chebli Mohamed