insert/retrieve image into database

hi, i am having some slight problem with inserting binary stuff into my database via odbc function calls... i am trying to store a bunch of images, and i cannot figure out how to make Php return a variable with all the information in it such that i can store into a database using INSERT. essentially, the process is that a user would upload an image, and the image goes into the database to be retrieved later when necessary... can someone point me to where i can look for this? i'm completely baffled and out of ideas... :P ---------------- remco chang bountyquest.com