Whats wrong with getimagesize ??

Hi guys, I am really stuck with this prob. Anyhow php can't read imagefiles after password protecting the site with htaccess. The file exists, the application works (after deleting the htaccess function), the path is ok. copy and pasting the url into the browserwindow returns the image. So whats wrong?? I am getting following erromsg: Warning: getimagesize: Unable to open 'http://testserver/subapp_gallery/app_data/ca/pictures/www.globosapiens.net- -canada--northwest-territories--id=239.jpg' for reading does anybody have any idea? I would really apreciate it, this gives me a real headache. Thanx for any help, Andy