file paths and binaries

Greetings all,
I'm looking for a tutorial or some assistance in explaning how store and
then open and read a binary file using php/mysql.

I've got a few tutorials about storing the binary data _within_ a mysql
table from Kevin Yank, phpbuilder, etc. but I've heard that it's sometime
better to keep your binaries on the server and not in the database.

Thus, if the developer just keeps the file path in a VARCHAR column like:
C:\apache\images\house.jpg
C:\apache\images\tree.jpg
etc...

and then directs that file be

fopen()
fread(), etc.
it will work without the added overhead.

I'm a bit lost in what happens after the filepaths are inserted into the
database and what steps follow in the script so that they can be opened and
read.

Any help, URL's or tutorials will be of assistance.
Thank you.
TR