I have my dads old AE-1 and it has a real nice lens. I have been thinking about breaking it out but I keep putting it off.
I have had a lot of formalized photography training over the years, 90 % of it forgotten. When I first started, having to photograph a scene was the only thing I got nervous about. If I fcucked that up you could easily lose a case. This was long before digital.
The one thing I do pay attention to is lighting and allowing for reasonable perspective. Getting a good spontaneous shot when travelling or a cool situation presents itself, awesome. I don't go out looking, but sometimes there are those moments that are worthy.