Behind The Shot : Marine Corps War Memorial

For several months, while browsing online, I was trying to figure out how people were able to photograph the U.S. Capitol Building, The Washington Memorial, and The Lincoln Memorial in the same image, while photographing the United States Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. 

From the ground, to the flag pole's top, the monument stands at 78 feet. None of the pictures I've found online explain where was the photographer standing when they took the image. I noticed on Flickr that some of them used a telephoto lens. So just to be on the safe side, I brought my Nikon AF-S Nikkor 55-300mm 1:4-5.6G ED lens with me on this trip.

I visited Washington, DC for the second week in a row, its one of my favorite cities. I arrived earlier in the day, considering I had planned to ride the Metro train for the first time. So I arrived earlier just in case, didn't want to get lost riding the Metrorail.