I remember my father -- with his handsome, old (now, new then) SLR camera in its sporty leather case -- taking photos and telling me "Don't shoot into the sun." I don't know if he knew what he was talking about. He didn't take a lot of photos after some point (although he sure left us with some incredible photos of the Great Wall in China from when he was in the Marine Corps and stationed, or visiting there) but his warning about not shooting into the sun stuck with me.
I know next to nothing about photography except that I LOVE taking photographs. While my father's warning stays there in the back of my mind, along with his warnings against putting potato peels in the garbage disposal and crossing my eyes, sometimes I ignore the warning. The one about shooting into the sun, that is. I NEVER put potato peels in the garbage disposal and I can't remember the last time I purposely crossed my eyes!