The Washington Monument

The Washington Monument - which of course sits in Washington, DC - is fairly hard to photograph.  It is (quite obviously) very tall and skinny, so you have to be a good distance back to get the whole thing in the frame, which leaves your photo with a lot of dead space.  That's not good.  Nonetheless, I did take some shots from afar (you sort of have to, right?) but I also tried to do a few creative shots from closer up.  This is one of those.  I was walking around the base of the structure and was trying to figure out what to do, when I leaned against one of the many flagpoles surrounding the Monument.  At that moment I looked up, and liked the view since it seems a bit different than what I have normally seen.   What do you think?