I'm not a very experienced gardener, but I "inherited" 9 camellias with the house that are about 40 years old, and I am also in zone 7. I have pruned 6 of them as close to the ground as I can get with a pair of anvil loppers, and all have bounced back very nicely, even the ones I pruned to the ground.

I understand that the best time of year to do this is just after the plant blooms, and before it sets its new growth, so you'll probably want to wait until next year.

thanks for the info it wont hurt it to go ahead and prune now just no blooms next year ? Because is is not pretty the way it looks now.

If you don't see any buds yet in the leaf nodes, then you may be okay to prune and still get some flowering on the remaining stems including any new growth that you keep there.