custom page template: img src doesn’t function

I’ve seen one other (unresolved) post that describes a similar problem I’m having but I wanted to go a little more in depth here. I’ve created a static homepage that will show a series rotating background images. When I set a background image in the css, it loads said image on the homepage. However, when I try to embed the file in the php as such:

<img src="images/background1.jpg"/>

I get nothing. To further complicate matters, I am planning on using jQuery for this task, specifically the plugin called Supersized. I created a page called “supersized.php” and loaded that independent of WP for testing, and it works flawlessly. However, I added the snippet:

<?php include('supersized.php');?>

into my custom template page and the CSS functions properly but none of the images load. I am just getting back into WP, and don’t know much PHP, but I am rather comfortable with CSS and HTML. It seems to me there is conflict with WP and using <img src/> tags. Can anyone confirm or deny this?

Also, I am testing locally so unfortunately I can’t provide a link for viewing. I can provide additional code or try to explain my process better if needed.

I am running WP 2.8.1 with the Corporate Sandbox theme.

Thanks much,
Eric