I don't have an issue shooting images at any point during the day; I try to take advantages of the lighting and go from there.

I would wholeheartedly say: SHOOT ANYTIME YOU CAN!

Midday sun is overhead, and gives you dark (often called harsh shadows). On the plus side, mid-day sun is very bright and gives you plenty of opportunities for good exposures while handholding a body.

When bright light is directly on your subject, you end up with exactly what you describe: washed out colors, flat geometry, and definition is not there.

So how do you combat this?

• Use a sheet or other material to diffuse the light. Softening the light will reduce the harsh shadows, and give your subject more volume.

• Use a fill flash to brighten up shadows. This image was shot at high noon on a super bright day on the oregon coast.. The subjects were lit with an on camera fill flash and because the image was shot at high noon, you get a perfectly illuminated background.

• Use a reflector to add more light to a subject. This will cause certain areas of your subject to have shadows, which will in turn give your subject more volume.

• Use a circular polarizing filter to help increase color contrast. Part of the reason colors looked washed out is due to the reflection of sunlight on colors. The strong intensity of the light reduces overall saturation. These reflections manifest themselves as polarized light waves. A CPL will block out specific polarized light, which results in more vivid colors.

• Use shadows. Sometimes the most interesting photos are created by shadow play. Harsh sun creates harsh shadows which can be used for amazing results.

• Bracket Exposures and try HDR images. THe effect is often abused, but it's fun to see what sort of images you can create with multiple exposures. Give it a whirl!

• Stay in the shade. One thing I quickly learned in the 90+ degree heat of spain was to stay in the shade. Buildings make great areas shade.