Colom took up photography in 1957 with the Agrupació Fotogràfica de Catalunya. He spent two years working on a reportage in Barcelona's 'Barri Xino' (red-light district), which he presented in 1961 at the Sala Aixelà in Barcelona with the title 'El carrer' (The Street). Three years later he published the book Izas, Rabizas y Colipoterras, with text by Camilo José Cela. In 1999 the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya put on a retrospective with the originals from 'El carrer', for which Colom was awarded the Spanish Ministry of Culture's Premio Nacional de Fotografía and the Medalla d'Or de la Ciutat de Barcelona in 2002 . Subsequently he received the Generalitat's Premi Nacional d'Arts Visuals and Barcelona City Hall's Ciutat de Barcelona prize for the visual arts.