For the last 40-plus years, Michael Eggert has spent much of his life in the fast lane as a hard-charging real estate attorney. But every June, his mind often drifts back to the West End House Camp in Parsonsfield, Maine, and the formative summers where he spent much of the 1970s as a camper and a counselor.

For Eggert, 67, the camp – which was founded in 1908 by Boston attorney and banker James Sturrow for children in Boston’s West End – served as a foundation where he played sports and chess, learned lessons of trust and brotherhood, and met lifelong friends. Following in the footsteps of his late grandfather, Benjamin Gargill – who attended the camp as a child and went on to become a District Court judge in Massachusetts – the camp also helped ease Eggert’s transition of moving from Wayne, New Jersey to Milton when he was a teen.

Since the 1980s, Eggert has been returning to the 118-year-old camp each August during “Old Timer’s Week,” to meet with the friends he first connected with some 60 years ago. Last year, during a brief conversation with camp Executive Director Jessica Paquette, Eggert unexpectedly sealed a deal that would allow him to spend the summer again at the camp. Eggert, who is semi-retired, agreed to return as a camp photographer.

“Michael was showing me some of the pictures that he took, and they were beautiful photos. And I jokingly said, ‘Oh, Michael, I’m looking for a camp photographer. I wish you were available.’ And he said, ‘Well, actually, I would love to spend the summer at camp,’” Paquette said.

“It’s like a dream come true,” said Eggert, of Needham, who has been taking pictures since he was a child. “It’s my happy place. I’m very comfortable there. You know, there’s a rock at the waterfront that has my grandfather’s name on it. There are buildings at camp that have my family’s name on it.

“It’s a source of overwhelming pride. I’ve been devoted to that place forever. My brother Bobby went here, and my sons Ben and Sam were also campers and counselors. It’s always been my number one charity. It’s a sacred, solid place.”

To prepare, Eggert met with another photographer to brush up on technique and started to work out more on his treadmill and in the gym in his apartment building. In late June, Eggert packed his car with camp gear and his camera – a Fuji XT5 with three zoom lenses: a 24-70mm lens, a 70-300mm zoom lens and a 16-55mm lens.

Soon after arriving at the 250-acre camp on Long Pond, campers started arriving from Greater Boston and the North Shore. After settling into his own private bunk – with its own shower – Eggert was soon snapping hundreds of photos 12 hours every day. He filled his mornings, afternoons and early evenings racing around the softball and soccer fields, to the tennis and pickleball courts, and down to the waterfront. His goal? To take a new picture of each camper every day, so parents could see their children on the website once the photos were uploaded.

Unlike 1970, when he first arrived at camp, Eggert’s world over the summer focused on being in the best spot possible in order to get the photo he wanted. While Eggert was reminded daily of the innocence of youth, and the beauty of spending the summer in the country, he also spent plenty of time with the campers: he played chess, taught water skiing, and drove kids to doctor’s appointments. And there was room for personal growth and a newfound perspective on life. He did not watch the news, nor engage in political discussions.

“I think it took me away from the craziness in this country,” he said. “It isolated me in one of the nicest situations I could possibly be in. It put me in the midst of boys. It allowed me to be paternal, and it was peaceful. It was nice to be in a peaceful place – and it’s not a homogeneous place. There are all types of people – all colors, all so many different faces, and they get along with each other. They don’t fight. There’s no vile or racist language. It’s brotherhood, and these kids are our examples, and it’s just nice to be there among them. It’s a privilege.” Θ