Trees, Shrubs and Conifers: My CamelliaPLEASE help!, 1 by Gitagal

Gitagal wrote:
I have had this beautiful Camellia ("Bob Hope") for almost 12 years.

It has bloomed beatifully for all these years. Then--three years ago--during the Winter it started having yukky leaf problems.
So many leaves became blotched and spotted and "fungusy" looking--even though it did noet affect the growth, overall nor the blooming.

These affected leaves started in mid-winter and stayed on the plant until mid-Spring--well into the blooming time. Then they slowly dropped off.
I have been in contact with MikeQ in Georgia) and he advised me last year to feed it to death and mulch with pine needles.
I have been fertilizing it with Espoma Holly Tone and, last Fall, I put a lot of coffee grinds on it and mulched it with pine needles....
Didn't seem to help.

My Camellia seems to look very straggly ion the last couple of years. Perhaps it is just getting old?
The branches are growing here and there and, overall, I no longer like the appearance of it.

I was wanting to ask if it would be OK to give the whole shrub a serious cur back pruning. Like--REALLY down ti the main stems?
The new growth is already going gung-Ho! Is it too late? Can this even be done?

The blooms are not as they should be--but then we all had a VERY long, cols Winter.
They look like as if they were affected by too much rain..the buds are not "fresh looking" and have petals on them that look moldy.

WHAT should I do? PLEASE only knowledgeable posters reply. No "guessing games" here. OK?
I am a very good gardener....just sometimes, I do not know what is wrong.....

Here is a picture of the affected leaves from last year. What do these tell you?