  Single top quark production is a powerful process to search for new physics
signs. In this work we propose and investigate a search for top quark flavor
changing neutral currents (FCNC) via a photon using direct single top quark
production events in proton-proton collisions at the LHC at CERN. We show that
the direct single top quark final state can provide constraints on the
strengths of tq$\gamma$ (top-quark-$\gamma$) and tqg (top-quark-gluon) FCNC
couplings simultaneously. Results of a search for direct single top quark
production at the LHC at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV performed by the
ATLAS collaboration are used to set first experimental limits on the anomalous
FCNC top decay branching fractions ${\cal B}$(t$\rightarrow$ u$\gamma$) $<$
0.05% and ${\cal B}$(t$\rightarrow$ c$\gamma$) $<$ 0.14% via direct single top
quark production. Finally, the sensitivity of the proposed channel for probing
the tq$\gamma$ couplings at 13 TeV is presented.
