php problem

hi im trying to upload images into mysql db and i get the error
Warning: Unable to create 'public_html/images/AFL_Live_PS.jpg': No such file or directory in /users/2005/cdm2/public_html/html/imgstore.php on line 26

can't understand what im doing wrong, if anyone could help me it would be great, thanks.
i have attached my code:


<FORM ENCTYPE="multipart/form-data" ACTION="imgstore.php" METHOD="POST">
The file: <INPUT TYPE="file" NAME="userfile">
<INPUT TYPE="submit" VALUE="Upload">
</FORM>
<?php
$path = "public_html/images/";
$max_size = 200000;
// database connection
$conn = mysql_connect("localhost", "username", "password") OR DIE (mysql_error());
@mysql_select_db ("2005_cdm2", $conn) OR DIE (mysql_error());

if (!isset($HTTP_POST_FILES['userfile'])) exit;
if (is_uploaded_file($HTTP_POST_FILES['userfile']['tmp_name'])) {
if ($HTTP_POST_FILES['userfile']['size']==$max_size) { echo "The file is too big<br>\n"; exit; }
if (($HTTP_POST_FILES['userfile']['type']=="image/gif") || ($HTTP_POST_FILES['userfile']['type']=="image/pjpeg") || ($HTTP_POST_FILES['userfile']['type']=="image/jpeg")) {
if (file_exists($path . $HTTP_POST_FILES['userfile']['name'])) { echo "The file already exists<br>\n"; exit; }
$res = copy($HTTP_POST_FILES['userfile']['tmp_name'], $path .
$HTTP_POST_FILES['userfile']['name']);
if (!$res) { echo "upload failed!<br>\n"; exit; } else { echo "upload sucessful<br>\n"; }
echo "File Name: ".$HTTP_POST_FILES['userfile']['name']."<br>\n";
echo "File Size: ".$HTTP_POST_FILES['userfile']['size']." bytes<br>\n";
echo "File Type: ".$HTTP_POST_FILES['userfile']['type']."<br>\n";
} else { echo "Wrong file type<br>\n"; exit; }
}
?>

Looks like your script is going to look for public_html in your html directory. Try setting path to something like '../images/' or write out the entire path absolutely.