SAN FRANCISCO — Michael Urakami's name has probably appeared in more articles on sfstategators.com than any other San Francisco student over the past few seasons. Urakami isn't a student-athlete though. You might not recognize his face, but regular visitors of the site will recognize his work. Urakami has built a massive portfolio of work as a student photographer. Over the past few seasons, he's been there with his cameras to capture the historic runs by the San Francisco State men's basketball, men's soccer, baseball, and track and field teams. This season, he's working for Major League Baseball as a live content creator.

His job is to capture pregame, in-game, and postgame content for both home and visiting teams at San Francisco Giants and Oakland Athletics games to send over for real-time distribution by mlb.com's editorial social media team. His typical day involves getting to the ballpark three hours prior to first pitch and ends about an hour after the game is over.
 

Urakami's original plan for college was to go to Southern California but he decided to stay in the area because of a close family friend's illness. He also had the chance to play college soccer but those dreams came to an end when a hard tackle to his ankle tore ligaments and ended his playing career. Urakami instead went to work studying Information Systems and exploring all that San Francisco has to offer. He wanted a way to show his other friends his hiking adventures so he borrowed one of his dad's cameras in January 2015. He caught the photo bug and has had a camera nearby ever since.

"My favorite part about my job is being around sports again. It was a really hard point in my life when I had to give up soccer for good and start to focus on school and work," he says.
 

Urakami mentioned that he wanted to get back into sports to roommate Thomas Derry, who was a member of San Francisco State's baseball team. Derry suggested coming out to take some photos for the team's senior day, which led to an opportunity helping out in the department's athletics communications office. By 2017, Urakami was the department's photographer of choice. At the same time, he was looking to expand his body of work. He already had a job as a student brand manger for Red Bull but he also came across a listing for a photography internship with his favorite sports team, the San Francisco Giants.
 

"When I landed the internship at the Giants I was blessed with amazing bosses. They worked with me and taught me lessons on how to take the world by storm, while letting my creativity run freely," says Urakami. "From framing, editing, and understanding the business of sports they molded me into the photographer I am today. Along the way, I met Austin Ginn, who held this job back then. He was a huge influence and helped me get in contact about the position this year."

Suzanna Mitchell has worked in the Giants Creative Services department since 2008. Currently the team's photography manager, Mitchell is a San Francisco State alumna herself, having graduated with a major in photojournalism in 2005. She hired Urakami for the 2017 season, and it turns out that the Gator pipeline has led to another find, with photojournalism major Joey Vangsness earning the role for the 2018 season.

"It's been really fun to witness Mike's progress. He came in as our intern and had the same joyful energy that he has now, so it's great that he still has that even with the demands," says Mitchell. "He maintains that energy which is one of his best qualities and just seeing his photography develop over the past few years has been really exciting."

Andy Kuno, the Giants team photographer since 1996, has witnessed a lot of people trying break into the business, and notes that Urakami's drive and work ethic set him apart.

"As an intern last year, Mike set the bar really high for future interns. I'm happy he hooked up with MLB to be their LLC because he provided some great work for us and he's providing a lot more for MLB this year and it's great seeing him do that," said Kuno. "In the photo pits he's asking questions, whether it's me or someone else. He's trying to pick everyone's brain to become a better photographer, which reminds me how I was 25 years ago. In a nutshell, that's Mike."
 

It's obviously a lot of hard work but Urakami's loved every minute of it, whether it's covering the Gators or MLB.
 
"With men's basketball's historic run [in 2016-17] and me being able to cover every home game was huge for both the school and personally," says Urakami. "It's even a better feeling when the players come and personally thank you for the photos and hard work. Even at the pro level, players ask about my life and career, which was shocking to me at first, but makes you realize that these are people living out their dreams and they want you to achieve yours as well."
 
He says that he wants to continue with photography in the future but that he also enjoys Information Systems (he's currently interviewing for some offseason internships in that field). Until then, you'll find him living out the major league dream.