The secret of success

When taking photos directly towards a low, bright sun.

Is an umbrella.
(Of course passers by give you funny looks as you stand over your tripod holding an umbrella roughly above the camera, not so low that it appears in the viewfinder not so high that the sun shines under it and therefore not necessarily directly above the camera.)

However, this doesn't work if the sun is what you want to take pictures of. Then you have to resort to standing behind trees and stuff like that :)

Goodnight :)

(you get even funnier looks if you forgot the tripod and are therefore balancing the camera on top of a small cushion on top of a fence post while waving the umbrella with the other hand and bending over in a decidedly inelegant manner in order to see the viewfinder without dropping the whole delicate assemblage.)
(But quite diferent looks if you then glare at passing traffic as they travel through your perfectly composed shot just as the light changes)