How to create alternative text for images?

Yes, I got alt text working without a metafile. I added two fields to my blueprint, a file selector for the image, and text for the alt text. Then I could render the two together like you outlined:

{% set featuredImage = page.media[header.featured_image|first.name] %}
{% set altText = header.alt_text %}

{{ featuredImage.cropResize(600,300).html('',altText)|raw }}

Thanks for the help @pamtbaau