Dorothy Comley was a very active photographer and long-time member of the Hutt Camera Club. In 1979 she was on the Slide Selection Panel for the Photographic Society of New Zealand, sorting through 1200 entries at the annual convention and exhibition held in Masterton. In 1990 she showed with the Wide-Angle Group at Exposures Gallery on Wellington’s Ghuznee St, and in 2011 exhibited in a group show at Lower Hutt’s Odlin’s Gallery on Myrtle Street.

Exposures was a dealer gallery for contemporary and historical photography, running from 1984-1990, and closing due to an economic downturn and funding deficit. Exposures showed exhibitions by top NZ photographers including Ans Westra, Lucien Rizos, Peter Black and Brian Enting.

Hutt Camera Club advances education by encouraging the appreciation and practice of photography, to benefit its community and annually awards the Dorothy Comley Memorial Trophy for beginners.

Comely’s professional career included training teachers of electrical engineering. Born in the United Kingdom and having trained as a qualified electrical engineer herself, a 1976 issue of Wellington Polytechnic’s student magazine Poly Parrot suggested she may have been the only female in New Zealand to hold this role.