fread / fopen in .htaccess protected directory

I have put files into an .htaccess protected directory. One of these files which uploads images and details onto a mysql database contains this line:

$binary_junk = addslashes(fread(fopen($image1, "r"), filesize($image1)));

This did not cause a problem before I moved it to the protected directory, but now keeps throwing back error messages like so..

Warning: fopen("", "r") - Success in /home/.............

Warning: stat failed for (errno=2 - No such file or directory) in /home...........

Warning: Supplied argument is not a valid File-Handle resource in /home.............

I have a feeling that it cannot find the temporary file to look at but I am not sure how to point it in the right direction.

Hope someone can help
PLEASE?

Warning: fopen("", "r") <<<-- The filename is missing, are you sure that this is correct?

Yeah, that is the error message I am receiving, it is now happening in all directories so I think it may be a server problem?

Check if variable $image1 is set correctly!

print "<b>image1:$image1</b><br>\n";
$binary_junk = addslashes(fread(fopen($image1, "r"), filesize($image1)));