  The azimuthal asymmetry of direct photons originating from primary hard
scatterings between partons is calculated. This can be accounted for by the
inclusion of the color dipole orientation, which is sensitive to the rapid
variation of the nuclear profile. To this end we introduce the dipole
orientation within the saturation model of Golec-Biernat and W\"usthoff, while
preserving all its features at the cross-section level. We show that the direct
photon elliptic anisotropy v2 coming from this mechanism changes sign and
becomes negative for peripheral collisions, albeit it is quite small for
nuclear collisions at the RHIC energy.
