How can I pull back the {description} information from an uploaded image. Bearing in mind I'm pulling back an image manipulation of the original?
<img src="{recipe-thumbnail:small}" alt="{description}"/>
You need to use a tag pair for your image:
{recipe-thumbnail}
<img src="{url:small}" alt="{description}"/>
{/recipe-thumbnail}
You have a number of variables that can be used inside the tag such as:
{title} {description} {location} {credit}
See for the full list https://ellislab.com/expressionengine/user-guide/add-ons/channel/custom_fields.html#variable-pair-usage