about.pocallum.cat

Joan "Linux"
Martínez i Serres

  • — Professional photographer
  • — Graphic editor
  • — Cultural communication
  • — Photography education
  • — ICT & free software activist
  • @ Nou Barris · Barcelona
Joan Linux Martínez
Pinhole self-portrait

I was born in Barcelona in 1972 and grew up in Subirats (Alt Penedès), in a household shaped by my parents' work as ceramicists, painters and sculptors. At fifteen I returned to Barcelona to study Graphic Arts, sustaining the work through fanzines, independent magazines and an obstinate commitment to photography that has never let up.

I am a photographer, graphic editor and cultural activist based in the Nou Barris district of Barcelona. Over twenty years working in cultural photography: blues, jazz, performing arts, festivals, street. I work by hand — from 35 mm to large-format 10×8" — developing and printing my own work in the darkroom at my studio inside Nau Bostik.

Photography is not innocent. That is precisely why it matters.

I do not understand photography as decoration but as language: something to be read, edited and, when necessary, challenged. I am interested in images that carry weight, not just surface. Projects that speak of territory, memory and social context.

Keeping analogue photography alive in the digital era is not nostalgia. It is a deliberate stance against speed, excess and the disappearance of photographic craft.

Commissioned photography

Professional coverage of festivals, concerts, performing arts and cultural events. Photographer linked to the Barcelona Blues Festival since 2002. Official photographer of the Barcelona Tattoo Expo (2002–2015). Album covers for Barcelona Big Blues Band, Big Dani Pérez, Bernat Font Trio and Joan Pau Cumellas, among others.

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Graphic editing & photobooks

Founder of 112 Books, an independent photobook publisher. I accompany new authors through every stage: from concept to print. Editing is an act of responsibility — not every image deserves to be printed.

112books.eu

Photography education

Teacher of analogue photography, experimental processes and alternative techniques at Llumàtics since 2017 and at Cameras & Films (formerly Lomography Embassy Barcelona) since 2011. I organise sessions for Worldwide Pinhole Photography Day at Nau Bostik.

Llumatics.com

Technology consulting

Through LinuxBCN we offer technology consulting with over 30 years of experience: free and open-source software, web development, design, servers and secure digital infrastructure. We also work with the latest applied artificial intelligence tools.

linuxbcn.com

From start to finish.

Most photographers show up, take the photos and leave.

I stay.

What interests me is not just the stage: it is what happens before the lights come on, the nerves at soundcheck, the conversations in the corridor, the release between sets, the accumulated excitement just before going on. What the other cameras do not see because they are already gone.

This closeness is not a style. It is a way of working. And it is what makes the images end up telling the whole story of the project — not just the highlight moment.

I work with bands, festivals and companies that need someone who understands both image and technology — and knows how to connect the two without middlemen. Photography, editing, web, social media, strategy. One person who knows the project from the inside.

How it works in practice:
Flamenco de Barrio Since 2012

No budget, total freedom. One year in analogue, the next in digital, always with access to everything. A visual archive that would not exist if I had not been there every year. Planting seeds is also part of the work.

See on the blog →
Arundo Donax · La Puebla de Híjar Nine editions

A small festival, in a small village, built around a reed. They keep inviting me because they trust how I see what they do. Outside Barcelona, outside the usual circuit, inside what matters.

See on the blog →
Los Mambo Jambo Ongoing coverage

Live shows, backstage, sessions, making-of, soundchecks, journeys. Not a one-off shoot. A coherent archive that builds identity over time — material that keeps working for them long after the concert ends.

See project →
  • 40 Years of Blues in Barcelona

    A portrait project documenting the protagonists of the blues scene in Barcelona. Large-format analogue photography. Publication: autumn 2026.

  • The Graphic Editor — A Survival Manual

    Too many publications look like they were made by chance: poorly selected images, buried texts, visual decisions with no criterion. Nobody takes responsibility. This book was born from the need to bring order.

    It is not a poetic manual or a collection of gentle advice: it is a working tool and a warning. The graphic editor is not a decorator or a software operator — they are the person who assumes responsibility for visual content with the same rigour as a text editor assumes responsibility for words. The image does not accompany the content — it is part of it.

    Aimed at professionals, students and project managers who understand that images are content with their own responsibility. The goal: tools, criteria and references to do the work with rigour and raise the quality of any publication.

Books

  • 2010–presentProfessional photographer · pocallum.cat
  • 2017–presentTeacher of analogue photography and alternative processes at Llumàtics
  • 2011–presentTeacher at Cameras & Films (formerly Lomography Embassy Barcelona)
  • 2001–presentTechnology consulting · LinuxBCN
  • 2020–presentFounder and graphic editor of 112 Books
  • Sep. 2020–presentResident and active participant in the self-management of Nau Bostik
  • 2007–presentPhotojournalism collaboration with Carrer, newspaper published by FAVB
  • 2002–presentCoordinator (with other members) of 9 Barris Imatge
  • 2002–presentDocumentary photographer at Prollema
  • 2002–presentPhotographer linked to the Barcelona Blues Festival
  • 2002–presentPhotographer at Barcelona Tattoo Expo (official photographer 2002–2015)
  • 2002–2024Documentary photographer at 9 Barris Acull (recently dissolved)
  • 2002–2017Member of the board and cultural programming committee at Casal de barri de Prosperitat
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Let's work together.

Photography commissions, editorial collaborations, photobook projects, workshops or anything else.

hola @ pocallum.cat

* Profile photo is a pinhole self-portrait.

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